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PRACTICAL TREATISE 

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OM THE MANAGEMENT OF 



FRUIT TREES; 



WITH 



DESCEIPTIVE LISTS 



OF THE MOST VALUABLE 



FRUITS FOR GENERAL CULTIVATION ; 



ADAPTED TO THE 



INTERIOR OF NEW ENGLAND. 



BY GEORGE JAQUES. 



Every Clyraat hath his owne fruit, far different from that of otiier 
countries. Gsrarde, in 1597. 

Those fruits which succeed perfectly in one section of the country, 
are sometimes ill adapted to another. Downing, in 1845. 



WORCESTER: 

ERASTUS N. TUCKER 
1849. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1849, 

By Erastus N. Tucker, 
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 



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Worcester: 
benj. j. dodge, prikter, palladium offtci:, 



CONTENTS 



Preface, - - - - - 7 

Introduction, ----.. 9 

PART 1. 

OF THE GENERAL CULTIVATIOIT OF FRUIT TREES. 

Chapter 1. — Production of a New Variety of Fruit, - 15 

Section I. Sowing Selected Seeds, - 18 

« 2. Sowing Hybridized Seeds, - 21 

Chapter II. — ^Multiplication of a Variety, - - 24 

Section 1. Direct Mode of Multiplying, by 

Dividing the Original Tree, 25 

1. Suckers, - - - 25 

2. Cuttings and Layers, - 26 
" 2. Indirect Mode of Multiplying, 

by Grafting from the Original 

into Other Trees, - - 30 

1. Scion-Grafting, - - 35 

2. Bud.Grafting, - - 45 

3. Position of the Graft upon 

the Stock, - - 51 

Chapter III.— Stocks for Grafting, - - - 64 



Chapter IV. — ^Transplanting 

Section 1. Trees of Small Size, 



3. 



Chapter V. — Pruning, 



Medium Size, 
Large Size, 



1. To improve the Growth and 

Form of a Tree, 

2. To induce Fruitfulness, 

Chapter VI. — ^Training, . . . - 

Chapter VII. — Miscellaneous, - - - . 

Section 1. Purchasing, Packing, Forward- 
ing, and Receiving Trees, 
Grafts, &c. &c. - 

" 2. Soils, Manures, Location of Or- 
chards, Position of Trees, 
Trees in Grass-ground, Fruit- 
ing, dtc. &c. 

<•' 3. Insects, Diseases, Remedies, &c. 

*•' 4. Implements, Materials etc. used 
in the Nursery and Orchard, 

*' 5. The Nursery Business, 

*' G. The Orchard Business, - 



59 
64 
66 
73 

76 

77 
80 
84 
90 

90 



97 
108 

113 
118 
124 



-♦ PART II. 

Ol" THE CULTIVATION OF THE SEVERAL SPECIES OF FRUIT 

TREES. 

Preliminary Remarks, .... 139 

Chapter I.— The Apple, - - - - -146 

Section 1. Standard Apple Trees, . 148 

1. Cultivation, &.c. - - 151 

2. Descriptive Lists of Apples, 152 
Section 2. Dwarf Apple Trees. - - 158 

" 3. Insects, Diseases, Remedies, 

Bearing Year, &c. • - 160 

" 4. Gathering and Ripening the Ap- 
ple, - . -168 
" 5. Uses of the Apple, - - 171 



Chapter II.- 


-The Pear, .... 


PAGE. 

175 




Section 1. Standard Pear Trees, - 


178 




1. Cultivation, &c. 


180 




2. Descriptive Lists of Pears, 
for cultivation on Stand- 
ard trees 


182 




« 2. Dwarf Pear Trees, . 


188 




1. Root-Pruned Dwarfs, 


189 




2. Quince-Bottomed Dwarfs, 


191 




" 3. Insects, Diseases and Remedies, 


200 




*• 4. Gathering and Ripening the Pear, 
and Uses of the Fruit, - 


203 


C^HAPTER III. 


— The Peach and the Nectarine 


207 




Section 1. Cultivation, ^•c. 


207 




" 2. Descriptive Lists of Peaches, - 


215 


Chapter IV.- 


-The Cherry, .... 


219 




1. Cultivation, &c. 


220 




2, Descriptive Lists of Cherries, 


223 


Chapter V.- 


—The Quince, .... 


225 


Chapter VI.- 


-The Plum, . - . 


227 


Chapter VII. 


— The Grape, .... 


232 


Chapter VIIJ 


L. — The Apricot, . - . . 


236 


Chapter IX. 


—Nuts, - . . . 


238 


Chapter X 


. — Berry- Fruits, . . . , 


241 




Section 1. The Strawberry, 


241 




1. Cultivation, &c. 


241 




2. Varieties, Uses, &c. of the 
Fruit, &c. - 


247 




Section 2. The Currant, - 


251 




" 3. The Gooseberry, - 


254 




" 4. The Raspberry, 


265 



PREFACE. 



Having waited a long while, in the hope that some 
one better qualified for the work, might be induced to 
furnish the fruit-cultivators of Interior New England 
with a treatise such as their local wants demand, I 
have at length ventured upon the undertaking myself. 

A book of this kind is so greatly needed, to guide the 
operations of a large and increasing class of our citizens 
that even comparative incompetency may not have labor- 
ed upon it in vain. 

If there are pears which ripen finely at Salem, but 
will not succeed in Boston ; if the climates of Western 
New York and the shores of the Hudson differ so widely, 
as to affect the quality of several varieties of different 
species of fruits, one might easily infer — what it has cost 
the writer something to learn — that whoever would suc- 
ceed with fruit-trees, in the hill-country of the eastern 
states, may rely with tolerable safety upon the uncertain 
testimony of his own neighborhood, while the profoundest 
wisdom tliat has ever recorded the experience of other 
countries, would only mislead and bewilder. 

I have endeavored to make my book what its title in- 
dicates. My Lists of Fruits have been carefully prepar- 



8 



ed, in honesty and in truth, and not with the mean sel- 
fishness that would thus advertise the worthless trash of 
a worn-out nursery. Should this little work in any in- 
stance disappoint expectation, I shall deeply regret, that 
the best intentions have failed here through inability, 
while, elsewhere, those better qualified to instruct have 
sometimes written with other prayers than for the success 
of their disciples. 
My sources of information have been, — 

1. JVearly eight years experience in the cultivation of 
nursery and orchard trees, chiefly by the labor of my 
own hands. 

2. A close ohservafion of the management of nurseries 
and orchards, in this vicinity and in other places, for the 
last ten years. 

3. A careful inspection of the very instructive Exhibi- 
tions of the Worcester Co, Horticultural Society, from its 
formation to the present time. 

4. Personal interviews and correspondence with several 
of the most distinguished horticulturists in this section 
of the country. 

5. An attentive perusal of almost all the agricultural 
and horticultural publications that have been issued, par- 
ticularly in the northern and eastern states, during the 
last twelve years. G. J. 

Worcester, March, 1849. 



01 



INTRODUCTION. 



'^ But forward in the name of God, graife, set, plant and nomrish 
up trees in every corner of your grounds, the labour is small, 
the cost is nothing, the commoditie is great, yourselves shall have 
plenty, the poore shall have somewhat in time of want to relieve 
their necessitie, and God shall reward your good mindes and dili- 
gence." 

So wrote the enthusiastic Gerarde, two hundred and fifty years 
ago, and surely no better advice can be given to the land-owners 
of New England at the present time. For, when it is taken into 
consideration, that the soil and climate of this section of the 
country are most admirably adapted to orchard cultivation, that 
the New England apples are among the finest flavored of any 
grown in the world, that the home market for fruit never has 
been, and that the foreign market probably never can be supplied, 
one must admit that nothing is apparently more feasible, than to 
make the lands of Worcester county and other sections of the 
eastern states far more valuable than the most productive wheat- 
fields of the west, or the richest cotton-grounds of the south, so 
that the ruddy-cheeked Baldwin apple and the d'Aremberg pear 
may take their easily attainable rank among our chief articles ot 
exportation. 

While, tiierefore, so many mills compel each little rivulet to 
b 



10 



earn and re>eaxn its passage to the ocean ; and while that ocean 
continues to bear our surplus wealth to every distant clime, let no 
planter of an orchard anticipate a want of purchasers forwhatev- 
ever fruits he may wish to spare from his trees. And even upon 
a smaller scale, the farmer who consults economy or regards the 
happiness of his family, will never regret the labor which can 
so easily spread upon his table an abundance of the various 
fruits of the successive seasons. 

There is a pleasure too in these pursuits, from which unlike 
all other earthly pleasures its votaries never turn aside with sa- 
tiety or disgust. Our most endearing associations, our most re- 
fined perceptions of the beautiful, are connected with fruit and 
other gardens. Horticulture, says Sir Wm. Temple, has been 
the inclination of kings, and the choice of philosophers. The 
Prince de Ligne after sixty years' experience, affirms that the 
love of gardens is the only passion which augments with age. 

Something also may be urged in favor of the moral tendency 
of the occupation, since as the latter writer finely observes, " it 
seems impossible that a wicked man should possess a taste for it."* 

There are those who will say — "all this reads pretty well 5 yet 
we ourselves are too old to reap the profits, to learn the pleasures, 
or to experience the moral influences of which you speak." "Too 
old?" Why, with proper selection and careful cultivation, your 
trees will render you valuable returns in even less than six 
years from the time you put them out. 

Says J. J. Thomas, " A Bartlett pear-tree, six feet high, and 
two years from transplanting, bore a peck of superb fruit. An 
apple tree, removed to the orchard when not larger than a car- 

^ II nie semble quMl est impossible q'un mechant puisse 1' avoir. 



11 



riage-whip, produced a bushel the fifth year." We hare our- 
self a Hubbardston Nonesuch apple-tree which, in the third 
year from the nursery and the tenth from the seed, bore us 
a half bushel of splendid fruit ; and the next year it produced 
nearly a bushel. Peaches, plums, and cherries begin to show- 
fruit the second year from the nursery, and frequently the for- 
mer two produce large crops in less than &ve years. 

" Too old I " Rather say too lucky, that your father did not 
make the same plea, when planting the trees of which you first 
eat in childhood. 

" Too old ! " Admit it, — must we also understand then that you 
are also too mean to pay to posterity what you owe to those who 
have gone before you ? Selfish man ! Plant trees, plant trees. 
No matter whether or not you may eat thereof yourself. Tlie 
fruit will aftbrd another just as much pleasure as it would you. 
Plant trees — ^"forward in the name of God," plant trees, and it 
•hall cheer the useless hours of old age to remember, that in 
vour day and generation you did something, even so little, to 
leave the world better, or at least no worse, than you found it. 

The subject-matter upon which this little work is designed to 
treat, seems to us worthy the attention of all land-owners who 
look to pecuniary profit, healthful recreation, and favorable mor- 
al influences, or who feel disposed to leave to posterity some- 
thing of as goodly a heritage as former generations may have be- 
queathed to them. 

But the limits of a work, practical as this purports to be. do 
not admit of further reflections of this kind. Let us proceed at 
once to those enquiries which may serve to direct the hand of 
ftMure labor. 

" Aliens mes amis, il faut cultiver bos fruitiera,'> 



PART I. 



OF THE GENERAL CULTIVATION OF 
FRUIT TREES. 



CHAPTER I. 

PRODUCTION OF A NEW VARIETY OF FRUIT. 

Of the vegetable no less than of the animal 
kingdom, it is a law to which there are few 
exceptions, that, in their native wilds nncon- 
trolled by man, the different species exactly 
reproduce themselves. 

The process of change commences with the 
generations raised in a domesticated, state. 

Some plants, indeed, and animals also seem 
not to be susceptible of the ameliorating influ- 
ences of human care. But almost all the 
really useful species are easily brought into a 
state of domestication. When once the artifi- 
cial treatment of culture is applied, the artifi- 
cial product of varieties is the result. The 
seeds, for example, of the common field- 
strawberry, sown in the garden, will produce 
fruit differing from that of the parent-plant 
and also from each other. The product from 
sowing the seeds of these will be still more 



16 

varied, and so on with each successive cul- 
tivated generation. 

And not only does cultivation originate but 
it sustains our fine varieties of fruit; for ex- 
perience has rendered it highly probable 
that, but for the fostering hand of man, these 
would, in the course of a few generations, rap- 
idly degenerate into a comparatively limited 
number of wild fruits. 

And here we will digress a moment to state 
a truth which lies among the foundations of 
horticultural science — that it is as absurd for 
a man to talk of the natural treatment of a 
garden fruit-tree, as of the natural treatment 
of his artificial Durham cow or of his own 
yet more artificial self; for a fine fruit-tree is 
the combined product of nature and art, and 
nature and art must both take care of it, or it 
dies. 

We shall not attempt to explain why the 
effect of cultivation should be to produce va- 
rieties. Perhaps the tendency to accidental 
hybridization is thereby greatly increased. 
Perhaps the influences of grafting, being almost 
always combined with those of cultivation, 
may be to break up the natural course of re- 



17 

production. Certain it is, and sufficient for 
our purpose, that the fact exists. 

All varieties of plants and fruits, good or 
bad, originate from the seed. 

There are two distinct modes of producing 
them in use among cultivators — 1st, by sow- 
ing selected seeds; 2d, by sowing hybridized 
seeds. 



SECTION I. 



SOWING SELECTED SEEDS. 



The laws regulating this mode of reproduc- 
tion are not well understood. Of a thousand 
apple-trees raised from seeds of some fine va- 
riety — say the Baldwin — and grown to a fruit- 
bearing age, probably not one would show a 
fruit equal to the original ; and while the num- 
ber of varieties thus produced might equal the 
whole number of the trees, perhaps not three 
out of the whole would be found worthy of 
cultivation. Some of the trees would bear 
small fruit, others large ; some fair, some 
knurly; some sweet, others subacid, sour or 
bitter ; some would ripen their fruit early, 
others would retain theirs until the frosts and 
winds of Autumn should scatter them upon 
the ground. Little therefore can be hoped 
from this chance sowing of selected seeds. 
Other circumstances must govern the choice 
of seeds, beside the mere qualities of the fruit 
from which they may be taken. 



19 

Professor Van Mons, after devoting nearly 
his wliole life to these pursuits, came to results 
which may be briefly stated as follows : 

THEORY OF VAN MONS. 

The design of nature is to produce a heal- 
thy plant capable of furnishing seeds for con- 
tinuing the species. 

The object of cultivation (or rather domes- 
tication.) is to turn the energies of nature from 
this end to the enlargement of the size and im- 
provement of the flavor of the fruit containing 
the seeds, — that is, so far as the vigor and ro- 
bust health of the tree is aflfected, it is an enfee- 
bling process. 

To carry forward this enfeebling work, sel- 
ect your seeds from a young tree of a garden^ 
not a wild variety, gathering the fruit before 
it is fully ripe^ and suflering the seeds to re- 
main in it until it is decayed. The words 
just italicised indicate four sources of ener- 
vating the breed, (if this latter term is allow- 
able.) 

The trees from these seeds should be root- 
pruned and branch- pruned^ on purpose to 
enfeeble and stunt their growth ; and, in order 



20 

that there should iDe no contamination from 
other breeds, they should be allowed to bear 
their fruit upon their own roots. 

From these trees select seeds as before, 
plant, prune and re-select seeds, and so on, 
until in about the fifth generation for pears, 
the fourth for apples, and the third or second 
for stone fruits and other shorter lived species ; 
the seedlings will nearly all become of great 
excellence. The point of perfection once at- 
tained, a further continuance of the process 
will result in a retrograde movement toward 
the original wild state of the plant. 

This theory seems to be founded in reason, 
although facts stubborn and numerous exist 
in opposition to it. Indeed, the principles 
which govern the reproduction of plants from 
the seed, are still very imperfectly understood. 

It will easily occur to the reader, that acci- 
dental causes have placed within reach of the 
American cultivator abundant materials in all 
stages of progress for the mode of reproduc- 
tion which originated with Van Mons. 

We come now to the far more certain, direct 
and scientific mode of originating fruits. 



SECTION II. 

SOWING HYBRIDIZED SEEDS. 

Hybridized seeds are those contained in 
fruits which have been originated, by fertihz- 
ing the stigma of the flower of one tree with 
the pollen of another of different though near- 
ly aUied characters; for, like grafting, the 
process cannot be extended beyond certain 
comparatively narrow limits. A fruit pro- 
duced by this cross fecundation, usually pos- 
sesses properties intermediate between those of 
its parents ; and the seedlings from such a 
fruit, although they may slightly differ among 
themselves, will all bear fruits partaking of the 
mixed characters of the fruits of tiie two 
parent trees. 

Strictly speaking, a hybrid or mule plant or 
fruit is the product of two different though 
nearly allied species; a crossbred plant or 
fruit is a sub-variety originating from two va- 
rieties of the same species. 

We have said that the field of hybridizing, 



22 

like that of grafting, is hemmed in by narrow 
Hmits. 

Indeed the laws of hybridizing in the vege- 
table and in the animal world are similar, 
though less stringent in the former than in the 
latter. We must therefore expect to find the 
seeds of cross-bi'ed plants sometimes sterile, 
and those of mules or hybrid plants almost 
always so, or becoming so in the second or 
third generations. And therefore our two dis-- 
tinct modes of producing seedlings cannot be 
combined to any great extent, even were it 
desirable. 

This art of hybridizing has scarcely been 
known above half a century, and its utility 
is as yet probably not at all appreciated as it 
will be hereafter. 

Some of the results which have been and 
may be produced, are — among Flowers^ great- 
er hardihood, change of time of flowering, im- 
proved odors, increased size, more beautiful 
colors, fc. — among P?'uitSj and Vegetables^ 
almost every desirable improvement of size, 
flavor, time of ripening, productiveness, &c. — 
among Timber-trees^ more rapid and larger 
growth, superior toughness and strength, 
compactness, &c. 



23 

In conclusion, we may say that the busi- 
ness of producing new varieties of fruits, as 
well as of improved breeds of animals, should 
be required at the hands of men of wealth and 
leisure, and ought hardly to be attempted by 
persons of humble means and limited re- 
sources. But better still, were a part of the 
revenue of a state or a nation judiciously and 
wisely expended in this way, the result^ 
would richly repay the outlay. 



CHAPTER II. 

MULTIPLICATION OF A VARIETY. 

Once in possession of a fine variety of fruit, 
a benevolent man would be anxious to know- 
how its existence might be perpetuated, and 
the number of trees of it indefinitely multi- 
plied. Indeed, without any very urgent 
promptings of benevolence, the fortunate re- 
cipient, in Pomona's lottery, of such a prize 
as the Esopus Spitzenburg apple, the Para- 
dise (T Aittomne pear, or the like, might natu- 
rally enough be solicitous to increase the 
number of trees of it, as rapidly as possible. 
Since these objects cannot be obtained by 
sowing the seeds of the fruit, as we have 
already stated, we must resort to the only two 
other methods left us, — 1st, That of dividing 
the original tree ; 2d, That of grafting buds 
or scions from the original into other trees. 



SECTION I. 



riBECT MODE OF MULTIPLYING, BY DIVIDING THE 
ORIGINAL TREE. 



There are two specifically different modes 
of accomplishing this. The first mode is by 
Suckers : the second, by Cuttings and Layers, 

L suckers. 

A sucke?' is a portion of a tree growing up 
from the root or from a portion of the trunk 
which is- below tho surface of the soil. By 
digging down carefully and cutting it off with 
a portion of the root attached, and setting it 
out at the proper season of transplanting, it 
will become a tree of itself. It will not, how- 
ever, possess so thrifty and vigorous a habit 
as that of its parent, — although suckers some- 
times do make very handsome trees. Another 
objection to suckers is, that they have a 
strong disposition to waste their energies in 
generating other suckers. Still a third objec- 



26 

tion lies in the fact that they are very apt -to 
retain whatever diseases or infirmities infect 
the tree from which they may be taken. 
Whether therefore for fruit-bearing purposes 
or as stocks for grafting, they are in general 
by no means especial favorites with the care- 
ful and judicious cultivator. Exceptions must, 
however, be made in favor of the Vine, the 
Q,uince, and a very few other fruit-bearing 
plants, which will be noticed in their proper 
place. 

H. CUTTINGS AND LAYERS. 

A cutting is a bud. or a twig (containing 
two or more buds) of the previous season's 
growth, cut from a tree. This being planted, 
if a twig, partly, and, if a bud, wholly under 
ground, will, under favorable circumstances, 
take root and itself become a tree. 

It is possible with proper care to multiply 
all fruit trees and shrubs in this way. But, 
practically, this mode is chiefly confined to the 
Vine, the Quince, the Currant, the Gooseberry 
and a very few others. 

Twig-cuttings should be cut and set early 
in the Spring. They should be separated 
from the tree at the point between the last and 



27 

the previous season's growth ; the tip end 
should be cut off so as to leave them from 
eight to fourteen inches long. When planted, 
from two-thirds to three-fourths of their length 
should be under ground, and the soil should 
be pressed hard about the lower end. Mulch- 
ings or covering the ground with straw so as 
nearly to hide them from sight, is an excellent 
mode of assisting nature in^this wojk. Plant- 
ing also in a shady place answers a similar 
purpose. 

When it is desirable that the cutting should 
make a tree-like growth without throwing 
np suckers, all the eyes in the part put below 
the surface of the ground should be cut out. 

Bud-cuttings, or those containing but a sin- 
gle eye or bud, should be planted ab«ut an 
inch deep in the ground at the same time with 
twig-cuttings. The Chinese Multicaulis and 
some varieties of foreign Grapes are raised in 
this way. In propagating by cuttings, the 
chances of success are greatly increased by 
the application of underground heat. This 
mode is much practiced with plant cuttings 
in green-houses. 

It should be understood, however, that a 
strict compliance with these rules is not 



always necessary; for cuttings often succeed 
when cut and planted in the most careless 
manner. For instance, with herbaceous cut- 
tings, an unskilful hand at the hoe in a cloudy 
day, will in this way propagate some kinds of 
weeds to a most undesirable extent, doubling 
and trebling their number where his only in- 
tention was to destroy them. 

A layer is a cutting which has been prepar- 
ed one or more seasons previously to being 
used. A twig growing out of a tree at a point 
not far from the ground, is bent down and the 
middle portion of it is buried just under the 
surface of the soil and fastened there by 
means of a hooked peg or by a stone or turf 
placed above it. Success is rendered more 
certain by checking the downward flow of the 
sap. This may be accomplished by cutting a 
slice off the under side of the part of the twig 
that is placed under ground, or, more imper- 
fectly, by twisting, bruising, or partially 
debarking the twig at that point; some re- 
commend to enter the knife on the under side 
at this point and split the twig upward about 
one or two inches, fastening the split open 
with a little wedge or pebble. 

Trees or shrubs purposely headed down 



29 

for raising layers, are called stools. A single 
quince-bush, thus made into a slool^ and its 
twigs layered, is capable of producing many 
finely rooted plants in a single season. Of 
some kinds of layers, nearly every bud will 
form roots of its own. A tree or shrub origi- 
nated from a layer, has a tendency to a dwarf- 
ish habit, and to inherit the diseases by which 
its parent-plant may be affected. 



SECTION II. 

INDIRECT MODE OF MULTIPLYING, BY GRAFTING 
FROM THE ORIGINAL INTO OTHER TREES. 

A graftis either a scion (which is the same 
thing as a twig-cutting,) or a hud (which is 
the same .thing as a bud-cutting.) 

Grafting consists in causing a scion or a bud 
to grow upon a hmb or the trunk of a tree, in- 
stead of taking root directly in the ground. 
The artificial tree thus produced, is said to be 
a worked^ or more properly a grafted tree. A 
defect in the language compels us to use the 
term graft and its derivatives, in a specific as 
well as a generic sense. Thus to graft means, 
commonly and specifically, to scion; generic- 
ally it means either to scion or to bud.^ Were 
it our province to show how words instead of 
trees may be multiplied, we should be tempted 
to enrich the phraseology of horticulture, by 
endeavoring to introduce into good usage the 



* The French employ the word greffe (graft) in this same geB« 
eric sensC; as a term including both grafting and budding. 



31 

word to scion and its derivatives, scloning and 
scioned, just as we have (o bud, budding, and 
budded. 

The tree upon which a graft is set, is called 
a stock. The stock and the graft (scion or 
bud) form a partnership, the former discharg- 
ing the duties of mouth and stomach, by means 
of its roots, the latter performing the functions 
of lungs and perspiratory system, by means of 
its leaves. 

It hardly needs to be explained that no 
grafting can succeed, unless the sap vessels of 
the graft (scion or bud) and those of the stock, 
are so adapted to each other that the flow of 
sap shall pass uninterruptedly from one to the 
other. These sap- vessels are chiefly situated 
in the inner bark (or liber) of trees. 

Neither can any grafting, however nicely 
performed, be successful, unless between dif- 
ferent varieties of the same species, as the 
Apple upon a seedling apple-tree stock; or 
between nearly allied species of the same ge- 
nus, as between the Apple and the Pear, which 
unions are comparatively imperfect and short- 
lived ; or, thirdly, between nearly allied gen- 
era, as between the Cherry and the Plum, 
which maintain a feeble existence for a limi- 



32 

ted period, and then die. All unions, there- 
fore, between widely different genera and 
species, are utterly impossible, as the graft 
cannot live upon the sap supplied by the 
stock, any more than a lion can be fed upon 
grass. Virgil, and other writers of antiquity, 
being ignorant of this principle, were led into 
great errors — a warning to those of modern 
times, who publish dreams of imagination in- 
stead of real facts. 

The practical limits within which grafting 
is ordinarily confined, are, first, between yari- 
eties of the same species, for standards ; and 
secondly, between varieties of different species 
or genera, for dwarfs. The Apple upon an 
Apple-seedling, is an example of the first, the 
Apple upon the Pear, and the Pear upon the 
Quince, are examples of the second. Other 
things equal, grafting is successful in propor- 
tion to the health and vigor of the stock upon 
which it is performed. Recently transplanted 
trees, therefore, are not in a favorable situation 
to be grafted, although they often are grafted 
successfully. 

The primary object of grafting has already 
been stated. Among the secondary uses of 
this curious and very ancient art are, — 



33 

1st. To alter the head of a tree bearing one 
kind of fruit, so that it shall bear another fruit 
possessing more desirable qualities. 

2d. To improve the form of a tree, by insert- 
ing scions or buds into the sides of the trunk 
or limbs. 

3d. To invigorate a feebly growing variety, 
by grafting it upon a vigorous stock. 

4th. To accumulate a number of varieties 
upon a single tree. 

5th. To accelerate the fruiting of a young 
seedling tree, by setting grafts, or, more es- 
pecially, fruit-spurs or fruit-buds from it, upon 
a grown tree. 

6th. To propagate a tree in soils unfavora- 
ble to its own roots ; as, for example, the 
Peach upon the Plum, in cold clayey soils. 

7th. To save a. variety from being lost, as 
when accident has destroyed the original tree. 

8th. To transmit a variety through chan- 
nels in which it would be impossible to send 
a whole tree, as to forward a scion or a bud 
enclosed in a letter. 

9th. To produce dwarf-trees. For this, the 
Apple is grafted upon Paradise (or Doucin) 
stocks, the Pear upon the Quince, Thorn or 
Mountain Ash; the Peach upon the Plum, 



34 

the Plum upon Mirabelle Plum seedlings, the 
Cherry upon the Cerasus Mahaleb, and, in 
general; any tree upon any other kindred tree 
of slower or smaller growth. There is also, 
we may remark here, another mode of produ- 
cing dwarf-trees, by root-pruning, which we 
shall describe under the head of Priming. 

The stock and the graft (scion or bud,) exert 
influences upon each other, mutually. Some 
of the influences of the stock have just been 
mentioned, see 3d, 5th, 6th, and 9th uses of 
grafting above described. The stock often 
affects the size and flavor of the fruit borne 
by the graft. Thus the Saint Michael pear is 
larger, fairer, and better flavored, in our climate, 
when grown upon the Quince stock. Of a 
graft or a stock, either may communicate its 
own diseases and infirmities to the other. It 
is pretty well established, also, that stocks bear- 
ing early fruits, have an influence in acceler- 
ating the ripening of the fruits which may be 
made to grow upon them by grafting. The 
graft is also said, in some cases, to affect the 
appearance of the bark of the stock, and also 
the form of growth in its roots. 

It may be remarked here, that many of the 



35 

theories respecting these influenceSj rest upon 
a rather sandy foundation of facts. 

There are two general methods of Grafting, 
1st, with Scions, 2d, with Buds. 

I. SCION-GRAFTING, (or scioning.) 

As we have said above, a graft, consisting 
of a twig containing two or more buds, is 
called a scion. The art of uniting such a 
graft to a stock, may be called scion-grafting, 
or, if the term were in use, we should prefer 
to call it scioning. 

It is a general rule that scions succeed much 
better, when they have been cut some time 
previously to their being set. The best time 
to cut them, is from the middle of January to 
the last of February, although they may be 
taken from the trees, at any time from late 
autumn until spring. In order to keep scions 
until they may be used, nothing more is neces- 
sary than to thrust their lower ends into the 
ground, in a shady place, say close on the 
north side of the trunk of the tree from which 
they were cut; or a better way is to set them 
half their length deep, in a box of fine soil in 
a cellar. Scions of stone-fruits require to be 
kept with more care than those of the apple 



36 

and pear. Scions are often set immediately 
on being cut, in the months of March and 
April. 

In cutting scions, we take, from the extrem- 
ity of the limb of a tree, that part of it which 
grew the preceding season, and we keep the 
shoot or twig entire, till wanted for use. Any 
thing of this description will answer for scions, 
but the best scions are cut from the upright 
topmost limbs of the central parts of a healthy 
tree. Young nursery trees often furnish ex- 
cellent scions. Grafts of mihealthy trees 
ought always to be avoided. 

In all the modes of grafting, it is necessary 
to protect the joint of the stock and graft from 
the weather, till the two have grown together. 
For this purpose, in scion-grafting, two com- 
positions are used, one is called grafting-clay^ 
the other, grafting-wax. 

Good grafting-clay is made, by mixing two 
parts of clay with one part of fresh horse 
dung, adding a little hair as in mortar. It 
should be prepared some days before using, 
and the more it is worked over the better. 
Grafting-wax is composed of bees- wax, ros- 
in and tallow. Downing recommends three 
parts of bees-wax, three parts of rosin, and two 



37 

of tallow. Melt them well together, and pour 
th3 mixture oflf into a vessel of cold water. 
Before it hardens, work it over with the hands, 
as you would molasses candy; and, as with 
the clay, the more it is worked over the better. 
Among the Dutch, a compound of equal parts 
of cow-dung and loam, well worked together, 
is used in preference to any other. 

T. G. Yeomans, of Walworth, N. Y., re- 
comniends the following, as a grafting-wax 
which "will give entire satisfaction to who- 
ever shall use it." He says he considers it 
better, as well as cheaper, than any other 
grafting composition known. Mr. Yeomans 
prepares what he calls his " sv per ioV grafting 
wax^^ by mixing together 1 pint Linseed Oil, 
1 pound Bees-wax, and 6 pounds Rosin. He 
does not inform us how the mixing process is 
conducted, but we presume the rosin and 
bees- wax are simmered together, over a fire, 
and the oil added afterward. Any of these 
compositions will answer a very good pur- 
pose. Even a turf of grass has served to 
protect a cleft-grafted scion, sufficiently to 
ensure its success. But it is never advisable 
to attempt grafting, unless one has good tools, 
time, and patience to do the work faithfully 



38 

and well. When it is desirable to bestow 
the greatest possible care upon a scion, the 
wax composition and also the tip end of 
the scion may be covered, in addition, with 
the gum-shellac composition, which we shall 
describe under the head of Pruning. 

Scion-grafting may be performed at almost 
any season of the year, with scions properly 
kept. A stick of buds (see Bud-Grafting,) 
may be inserted on the north side of a tree, at 
budding time, after the mode of side-grafting 
exolained below; and from that time to the 
first of June, scions may be successfully set. 
But by far the best time to graft with scions, is 
from the middle of February, in mild weather, 
all along until the middle of May, — stone- 
fruits first, and other fruits chiefly in April 
and May. 

Scions are united to their stocks in several 
ways. Whatever may be the mode of oper- 
ating, the principle is always the same as 
above stated, — namely, tlie sap-vessels of the 
graft and the stock must be so adapted to 
each ofher^ that the sap can flow unintemtpt' 
edly from the one to the other. 

Cleft-graftings so called, is the mode of sci- 
on-grafting in most common use. Stocks, from 



39 

half an inch to two inches m diameter, are 
usually worked over in this way. The whole 
top of a large tree may thus he headed back 
and grafted, so as to become even more valu- 
able than one that was grafted in the nursery. 
The operation is easily described. Saw 
off the stock crosswise ; then pare the end 
smoothly with a knife. Next, split it down 
about two inches, with a thin sharp knife, 
driven with a hammer. A narrow wedge is 
now driven into the middle of the cleft, so as 
to keep the top of It open about a quarter of an 
inch. Cut the scion, (Avhich should not contain 
more than three or four buds,) at the lower end, 
in the form of a wedge, about one and a half 
inches long, contriving to have a bud^ or eye 
at the top of the part so formed, to ensure 
greater success. The scion is next to be insert- 
ed on one side of the stock, and fitted nicely 
into the cleft, so that the inner bark of the 
outer side of the scion shall exactly meet that 
of the stock. On large stocks, two scions are 
thus inserted, one on each side ,- and, when a 
stock is extremely large, two clefts may be 
made, and four scions inserted. These will be 

* After the scion is set, this bud should be on the outer side of 
it, and about a quarter of an inch below the top of the stock. 



40 

managed, in future years, according to the 
discretion of the pruner. When the stock is 
very small, it is necessary to bind the joint, by 
tying it with bass-matting. Every part of 
the joint should now be protected from the 
weather, by covering it with grafting clay or 
wax. When the scion is set just at the sur- 
face of the ground, a little mound of earth 
may be heaped over the joint, as a substitute 
for the clay or wax. 

When the stock and scion are of about the 
same size, the operation may be reversed, the 
cleft being made in the scion, and the stock 
wedge-shaped and fitted into it. This mode 
is called saddle- grafting. A little wood 
should be pared out, on each inner side of the 
cleft of the scion, so as to fit it better to the 
stock. 

Splice- grafting. This is done very neatly 
and perfectly, upon stocks which are of the 
exact size of the scion. Cut off the stock, with 
an upward slant of an inch or more in length, 
and the scion with a similar downward slant ; 
tie the two firmly together with bass-matting, 
always fitting their inner barks, or sap-vessels, 
to each other ; next, cover the joint with wax 
or clay, and you have performed one of the 



41 

neatest and surest modes of grafting yet 
known. 

When the stock is larger than the scion, the 
Jatter must be fitted to one side of the former. 

It is often more convenient in practice, to 
tongue the stock and scion together, that is, to 
cut a corresponding notch or sht in each, and 
then fit the two carefully together, tying and 
claying or waxing the joint, as before. 

Small stocks, taken up in the fall and kept 
in a cellar, are often grafted in winter, by the 
fire-side, in either of the above-described 
modes, and then kept in the cellar until 
spring. 

Side-grafting is often practised to improve 
the form of a tree, or as a substitute for the 
other modes of grafting. Cut the scion as for 
splice-grafting. In the bark of the trunk or 
limb, where you wish to insert the scion, cut 
a slit, of the form of an inverted L (thus q,) 
paring away a small triangular piece of the 
bark, on the upper side of the horizontal part 
of the slit, so that the scion may fit closely to 
the stock. The vertical part of the slit should 
be two or three inches long. Raise the corner 
of the bark, and enter the scion under it, 
always remembering the fundamental princi- 



43 

pie essential to the success of all grafting. 
By shaving off the bark of the scion entirely 
around its lower end, more of its sap-vessels 
are brought in contact with those of the 
stock, and its growth is therefore rendered 
more certain. The joint must now be bound 
with strong matting, or tarred rope (old ship- 
rigging.) In applying the bandage, it should 
be wound, so as to bind the scion against the 
undisturbed bark of the vertical portion of the 
slit. Cover with the composition as before. 
Fruit-bearing spurs of the Pear or Apple, in- 
serted in this way, sometimes bear the same 
season in which they are grafted. 

This mode of grafting cannot be performed, 
until the sap of the tree flows freely, say 
about the tenth of May, or later for most 
kinds of trees. 

In-arch grafting. This mode is used when 
others will scarcely succeed. Tlie two trees 
must stand close to each other. A twig of 
each, without being cut from its tree, must be 
pared with a long corresponding slanting cut, 
and the two raw edges must be fitted nicely, 
and bound firmly together, and the joint cover- 
ed with the composition. When the union has 
taken place, the trees are so separated, as to 



43 

leave the scion on the tree where it is wanted. 

There is also a mode of grafting, by which 
a stock may be worked into a tree which has 
a feeble root. Take, for instance, a pear-tree 
upon a quince root, which has become weak 
and unhealthy, at or below the point of 
grafting. Set out, close to it, one or more 
small vigorous Pear stocks, and graft them 
into the trunk of the Pear, as near the surface 
of the ground as possible, or even below it, 
by the mode of side-grafting inverted. We 
have seen a dwarf thus entirely taken off its 
quince bottom, and converted into a standard 
tree. This should be done as early in the 
spring as the bark will slip. 

In rich soils and favorable locations, the 
Pear may be taken off its Quince bottom, 
simply by setting the latter three or four inch- 
es under ground, or by raising the ground 
around it, using, in the latter case, a rich, gen- 
erous soil, suited to the wants of Pear roots. 

The sap-vessels of the Grape, and of some 
other vines, are of such structure and location, 
that the mode of grafting may be varied 
essentially from what has been described 
above. 

Mr. Goodnow, of Indiana says, "I have 



44 

never succeeded with any other mode of 
grafting the Grape than this : — Cut off the 
root, some two inches below the ground, with 
a transverse cut. Then choose a gimblet just 
the size of the scions to be inserted, and bore 
from one to three or four holes, in the end of 
the stock, according to the size of the root, and 
insert the scions, first removing their loose 
bark. The holes should be two or three inches 
in depth, and perpendicular with the grain of 
the wood, and the scions should fit accurately 
into them. I have never known them fail to 
grow. If the operation is performed so late 
in the spring that the root shows a disposition 
to bleed, grafting cement must be used." We 
infer, therefore, that this work would be done 
more advantageously, very early in the spring. 
Herbaceous graftings (or rather scioning.) 
The French gardeners have succeeded perfect- 
ly with this curious operation; grafting melon 
vines upon those of the cucumber, the tomato 
upon the potato, and effecting other similar 
unions between vegetables of the same species. 



II. BUD-GRAFTING, {budding or inoculating.) 

Bud-grafting, which is commonly called 
budding or inoculating, is a modification of 
side grafting, in which the graft consists of 
but a single bud, or eye. 

This is always an easy and convenient 
method of working small stocks. It is 
usually performed, in the latter part of sum- 
mer, although it may be done late in the 
spring; but it is not advisable to resort to 
budding in the spring, except where we have 
a very valuable scion, which we wish, by 
subdividing, to increase the chances of sav- 
ing. In this case, we may cut off the buds of 
the scion, and insert them separately, in the 
manner which we are about to describe, wait- 
ing of course till the sap of the stock is in full 
.motion. We, in this latitude, commence bud- 
ding Plums, Cherries, Apricots and Pears, the 
latter part of July. From the middle of Au- 
gust to the middle of September, is the season 
for Apples. From the first to the middle of 
September, is better than earlier, for Peaches 

% 



46 

and Nectarines.* It is essential to success,— 
1st. That the hark of the stock should part free- 
ly from the wood ; for whenever, either from 
the season of the year or the feeble condition 
of the stock, the bark adheres to the wood, the 
operation will certainly prove a failure. 
2d. The bud which is to be inserted^ should be 
well ripened ; otherwise it will not have vital 
energy sufficient to establish itself, in its new 
location. 

To prepare a stick of buds for budding in 
summer or autumn, take a scion of the pres- 
ent season's growth, and cut off the portions 
of each end of it containing buds that are im- 
perfectly developed. Next, cut off the leaves, 
at a point about in the middle of their stems 
ov footstalks. The buds which are to be used, 
lie in the angle on the upper side of these 
stems. Upon the Peach and some other trees, 
three classes of buds will be noticed, — single, 
double, and triple. Double buds being gener- 



* It will give a better idea of the proper time for autumn hudU 
ding, to mention, that a bud has two stages of growth,, — 1st, to. 
unite itself with its stock ; 2d, to form wood of its own. The 
best time to set a bud, in summer or autumn, is just early enough 
to allow it time to complete its first stage of growth, without en- 
tering upon its second, this latter growth being delayed until the 
ensuing spring. 



47 

ally fruit-buds, ought to be avoided, unless 
when the particular object of the operation, 
(which seldom succeeds,) is to secure a speci- 
men of fruit the ensuing year, and nothing 
further. Single wood-buds are preferable 
to the triple ones, except in working the 
Peach, where the latter, in our climate, seem 
to succeed quite as well as the former. It 
may assist the inexperienced budder, to in- 
form him that the* blossom-buds are quite 
round, whereas the 7^ood-huds are always 
long and pointed. Very feeble wood-buds 
sometimes have not vigor sufficient to grow 
into a twig ; they, therefore, emit two or three 
leaves only, the first season, and then die. 

The size of the stock (trunk or limb,) upon 
which this operation is to be performed, ought 
to be from one-eighth of an inch to not more 
than an inch in diameter.* There are many 
modes of budding; we shall give only that 
which we consider the best. 

With a sharp budding knife, (a pen-knife 
will answer,) upon a smooth place, on the side 
of the stock, cut a longitudinal slit, an inch or 
more long. Across the top of this, cut a trans- 
verse slit, from a quarter to half an inch long, 
so that both slits, taken together, shall resem- 



48 

ble a letter T. Next, cut from your stick 
of buds, a thin slice of bark, with a little 
wood in the central portion of it, entering the 
knife about half or trx>ee-fourths of an inch 
below, and bringing it out about as far above 
a bud. This slice of bark and wood, taken 
together, is called a bud^ — the part of the bud 
which grows into a twig being technically 
called its eye. 

With the ivory haft of your budding-knife, 
or, if you have not such a knife, with any 
little wedge of wood or ivory, raise up the 
corners of the slit in the stock. Taking hold of 
^he bud by its foot-stalk, enter it, and gently 
push it down to the bottom of the incision. 
The eye of the bud will now be about from 
one-fourth to three-fourths of an inch from the 
transverse part of the slit. The part of the 
bud, if any, projecting above this transverse 
slit, should be cut off, by passing the knife 
through it, into the transverse slit again, so 
that the upper end of the bud and this trans- 
verse part of the slit shall make a good joint 
together. Bind the bud firmly with shreds 
of bass-matting, so as to cover every part of 
it except the eye. Woollen yarn or corn 
husks will answer, when no matting is at 
hand. 



49 

If the stock grows so much, the remainder 
of the season, as to occasion the bandage to 
girdle it, take the bandage off; otherwise, let it 
remain on imtil spring. 

In the month of April, when the buds begin 
to swell, remove the bandage, if it has not 
been previously removed, and cut off the 
stock three or four inches above the bud, 
which will soon begin to grow vigorously. 
The stock is left thus long above the bud, as 
this will often be convenient for tying np the 
young shoot of the bud, during the first sea- 
son of its growth ; after which the stock may 
be cut offclose above the point where the bud 
was inserted. 

When the buds are set in the spring, the 
stocks are cut off above them, as soon as they 
show any signs of growing. As soon as a 
bud or a scion begins to grow, all sprouts or 
suckers (called robber-shoots,) starting out 
below it, should be carefully cut off. This, 
however, should be done gradually, if the 
stock is quite large, otherwise the bud or scion 
might not afford a sufficient supply of leaves 
to keep the sap of the stock in healthy action. 

A modification of the process of budding is 
deserving of notice. The French call it Bud- 



50 

ding without Buds {Greffe sans yeux.) The 
object of this operation is merely to cover a 
wound or blemish in one tree with the live . 
bark of another, thus : 

" Take from a tree of the same species as. 
the wounded tree, a piece of bark rather larger 
than the wound, and form it into a regular 
shape. Cut the bark round the wound into 
the exact form and dimensions of the piece to 
be inserted, so that the latter may be fitted 
into the former, with the greatest exactness. 
Bind the joint tightly with a ligature, and 
cover the whole with grafting clay or wax." 

The same cure may also be effected by 
means of scions. Cut good thrifty scions 
from the same species of tree as the wounded 
one. After paring the edges of the wound 
smoothly, insert the lower ends of the scions 
under the bark at the lower side of the wound, 
by the above-described mode of side-grafting; 
then insert the upper ends of the scions under 
the bark of the upper side of the wound, by the 
mode of side-grafting inverted. Bind the 
joint, particularly at its two ends, with tarred 
rope or some other suitable ligature. Next 
cover all the parts heavily with grafting clay ; 
and then bind an old cloth or piece of matting 
around, so as to secure the whole. 



51 

In both the above-described processes of 
cure, the bandages need not be removed till 
the next year. Injuries done to trees by mice 
in the winter, may often be successfully re- 
paired by either of the modes just described. 

m. POSITION' OF THE GRAFT UPON THE STOCK. 

There are five principal points at which a 
graft may be inserted into a stock, — 

1st. A( or below the surface of the ground. 
Splice, cleft, and saddle grafting, are applica- 
ble at this point, according to the size of the 
stock, or the fancy of the operator. Trees 
worked in this way, have a neat appearance, 
as the joint of the stock and the scion is not 
visible. 

2d. Between the surface of the ground 
and the point of branching out. All the 
modes of grafting may be practised at this 
point. But if the stock and graft do not 
grow alike, the tree will suffer in appearance, 
and perhaps even in its health and vigor. 
This is the point where nurserymen graft 
nine-tenths of their trees, because the work 
can be done more expeditiously here, and the 
tree becomes marketable quite as soon as 



52 

when worked at any other point. But it does 
not follow, therefore, that this is the best 
point, by any means. 

3d. At the 'point of branching. All the 
modes of grafting may also be performed here ; 
but the objection just stated weighs also, 
though in a less degree, against this place of 
inserting the graft. Trees grafted at this 
point, are, however, quite as valuable to the 
purchaser as those worked by either of the 
above described modes. 

4th. Beyond the point of branching, in the 
limbs, A tree properly grafted in this way, so 
that it shall form a handsome top, is unques- 
tionably more valuable than one which has 
been worked at any lower point ; and if such 
trees are not recommended by nursery-men 
generally, it may be because such high work- 
ed trees cannot be got into the market so 
young, or sold at so good a profit, as others. 
We do not at all mean to condemn trees graft- 
ed in either of the above-mentioned modes, 
but only to give our preference to those of this 
latter class. • 

5 th. Still farther from the trunk , in the 
branches of the limbs. This is the place to 
put a new head upon an old tree. An excel- 



53 

lent plan for performing this improvement is 
recommended by Mr. Olmsted, of East Hart- 
ford, Ct. He says, "I begin on the top^ and 
graft one-third each year, taking three years 
to complete the entire heads of the trees. 
Grafting the top first, gives the grafts there 
the best possible chance, while the necessary 
reduction of the top throws the sap into the 
remaining side branches, fitting them well for 
grafting the following year." The lower 
branches are, in the same way, made ready 
for the succeeding year. 

This is quite a profitable labor to be em- 
ployed upon a healthy old tree, of which 
the present fruit is not good. Twenty-eight 
bushels of apples were gathered by Mr. O., 
from a single tree, only six years from the 
time the first scion was set in it in this way. 

In general, except where dwarfing is the 
object, the nearer the point of union, between 
graft and stock, is to the fruit-bearing parts of 
the tree, the better; because seedling wood 
has naturally more hardihood and vigor, than 
the wood of a bud or scion usually possesses; 
— this, at any rate, is the teaching of expe- 
rience, if not of theory. 



CHAPTER III. 

STOCKS FOR GRAFTING. 

It is generally best to raise stocks of all 
kinds of fruit trees, from seeds. In the culti- 
vation of the apple, the pear, and also of the 
plum and the cherry, sucke?'-stocks should be 
carefully avoided, unless no others can be 
procured. 

The general rule, for raising seedlings of all 
our hardy out-door fruit trees, is to plant their 
seeds about an inch deep in the ground, in the 
latter part of summer or in autumn, as soon 
as the fruits ripen. The seeds of the later 
varieties of each species, for the rnost part, 
succeed the best. But to be more particular : 

Apple seedling-stocks may be very easily 
raised, thus : Take pomace, in autumn, from 
the cider-press, before fermentation has com- 
menced; sow the pomace in drills of about 
four or six inches in width, and about four 
feet apart, covering it from half an inch to an 
inch deep. A neater, but altogether unneces- 



55 

sary process, is to wash the seeds out of the 
pomace, before sowing them. 

During the next summer, keep the young 
trees clean of weeds, working between the 
drills with a horse-plough or cultivator. If 
the plants spring up very thick, it is good 
economy to pull up and throw away a portion 
of them. By the second or third spring, ac- 
cording to the soil and cultivation, about 
three-fourths of the seedUngs will be large 
enough to be set out in nursery rows; the 
other one-fourth, or thereabouts, being of a 
dwarfish or stunted growth, should be thrown 
away, as worse than worthless. 

Those which are to be planted out in the 
nursery, will be from one-eighth to three- 
fourths of an inch in diameter, at the surface 
of the ground. They should be taken up, 
their tap-roots shortened, and three or four 
inches of their tops cut off; then they should 
be set in straight rows, one foot apart in the 
row, the rows being three or four feet apart. 

The best soil, in which to sow the seeds or 
set the young trees of the apple, is a strong 
deep loam, rather moist than dry — say a soil 
that would produce a large crop of Indian 
corn. 



56 

Pear stocks may be raised from seed, pre- 
cisely in the mode we have described for Ap- 
ple seedlings, only let the soil be deeper and 
richer. But the climate of New England is 
not well adapted to their growth, and it is 
not, therefore, advisable to attempt to raise 
them, so long as the foreign stocks can be so 
cheaply purchased of importing houses, in 
Boston or New York. 

Cherry stocks are generally raised from 
seeds of the common Black Mazzard cherry. 
Gather the fruit, when it is fully ripe, and 
sow it immediately in drills, covering, (fcc, 
precisely as directed for the apple-seedlings. 
The soil should be a deep, rich sandy loam. 

Some wash the seeds from the pulp, before 
sowing, but, as with the apple, we. have found 
this to be unnecessary. The stones may be 
kept in sand until spring, but we do not ad- 
vise to do it. When the plants are one year 
old, under good cultivation, they will be fit to 
set out in nursery rows. Assort them accord- 
ing to their size, throwing away the quite 
small ones ; cut off their tap-roots and tops, 
and set them out in the way described for 
apple-stocks. 

Plum-stocks may be had of the importers. 



57 

or they may be raised from the seeds of any 
free growing kinds, in the same way as cher- 
ry-stocks, (avoiding the seeds of the damsons, 
as they are not easily budded.) A .rich, 
heavy, moist soil suits the plum best. 

The above-named stocks may be splice- 
grafted, when first set out in nursery rows ; 
but it is a preferable practice, to bud them, 
the ensuing summer. In ten days from set- 
ting a bud, it will generally be ascertainable 
whether it will live. If this appears doubtful, 
another bud may be set in the stock, either 
above or below the first. If unsuccessful the 
first year, bud again the next, and even a 
third year. If still unsuccessful, sclo?i-gr3.fi 
the stocks, at the proper season, or throw 
them away. This throwing away worthless 
stocks, by the by, is sometimes a very profit- 
able operation. 

Peach stones should be gathered, in the 
season of the fruit, and kept in sand in a cel- 
lar, or buried in the ground, until early plant- 
ing time in the spring. They should then be 
cracked with a hammer, and planted in rows 
thre.e or four feet apart, and six inches to a 
foot apart in the rows. They should be bud- 
ded the ensuing September. The next spring, 



58 

those stocks in which the bud is not aUve, 
should be cut down close to the ground, and 
only a single shoot suffered to grow, to be 
budded the following autumn. If there is 
again a failure in the bud, dig up the stock 
and throw it away, as worthless. The high- 
est ground in your nursery is the place for 
peaches and cherries, and they will be truly 
grateful for a deep, rich, loamy soil. 

Quince bushes may be raised from cuttings, 
which of course do not need grafting. When 
seedling quinces are desired, sow the seeds in 
autumn, just as yau would those of the apple, 
and give them the same after treatment. The 
quince is much mgre easily raised from cut- 
tings in Europe than in this country. Good, 
well rooted plants can be had of the importers 
quite as cheap as they can be raised here. 
When it is desirable to graft quince cuttings 
or seedlings, follow the directions given above 
for the apple, pear, &c. 

Stocks for dwarf-trees — as the Paradise ap- 
ple, Mirabelle plum, Cerasus Mahaleb cherry, 
— or the dwarf-trees themselves, are obtained 
from the importers, at very reasonable prices. 



CHAPTER IV. 

TRANSPLANTING. 

No branch of tree-cultivation is more im- 
perfectly understood than this. Thousands 
of fine trees die, the first season after being- 
set, in consequence of the ignorance and inex- 
perience of those who plant them. And many 
which survive their first summer of suffering, 
stand for years, hesitating between life and 
death; Avhich, had they received an extra fif- 
teen minutes' attention, and a shilling's worth 
of rich soil at setting, would have repaid for 
both, an hundred fold, in beauty of growth 
and productiveness. 

To do this work perfectly, it would be 
necessary to take up a tree, with every fibre 
of its roots entire, and to set it again, so that 
every root, rootlet, and fibrous root should oc- 
cupy the same relative position in the ground, 
that it originally had, — being at the same 
depth from the surface ; and the earth lying 
as compactly around it as before. 



60 

But, as trees are rarely moved without suf- 
fering more or less loss or maiming of their 
rdbts, it becomes important to understand 
how to repair this injury. 

A tree is a thing of life. It lives and has 
its being. Its roots constitute its mouths and 
stomach ; its foliage performs the functions of 
lungs and perspiratory system. If, on re- 
moving a tree, you cut away one-half of its 
mouths, at the same time, of course, destroying 
an equal portion of its stomach, its powers of 
perspiration and respiration must also be pro- 
portionably checked, or its health, or life even, 
may be destroyed. Hence, when a period of 
rainy weather immediately succeeds the set- 
ting of a tree, it is almost sure to live ; for the 
dampness of the atmosphere checks the perspi- 
ration and respiration of the tree, till its roots 
in a measure recover what they have suffered 
from their mutilation and removal. The same 
thing is also imperfectly accomplished, by 
watering the top of a tree with a water-pot 
for several successive nights after being set, or 
by binding the trunk with moss and straw. 
A small plant or cutting is put under a bell- 
glass for this purpose, the confined air check- 
ing the perspiration equally as well as a hu- 
mid or cloudy atmosphere. 



61 

The fiuida mental principle to be generally 
observed, in transplanting, is to head back the 
top of the tree, in proportion to the loss of 
root that it has sustained by being removed. 
Trees which are impatient of the knife, as the. 
cherry and some others, should be taken up 
with great care^ so as to save as much of the 
root as possible. Instead of heading in the top 
of the newly-planted tree, it has been recom- 
mended very strongly, to remove every alter- 
nate bud from each little limb or scion of the 
tree, sparing the terminal buds. This mode, 
it is urged-) saves a year's growth of the wood. 
This disbudding process may be worthy of 
trial, but, as at present advised, we should 
still give our decided preference to the short- 
ening method. 

Some fruit trees may be moved much more 
easily than others. Downing arranges them, 
with reference to this point, in the follow- 
ing order : — Plums, Quinces, Apples, Pears, 
Peaches, Nectarines, Apricots, and, last and 
most difficult, Cherries. It is an invariable 
rule, that the larger the tree the less the 
chances of success. Small trees should always 
be sfet, in the spring, in our climate. If neces- 
sarily taken up in the fall, heel them in for the 

4 



62 



winter; i. e., dig a trench, lay them in slant- 
ing, and bury their roots quite deep in the 
ground, mixing the soil well among them. In 
the spring, take them up and set them where 
you wish. Medium-sized trees, say five to 
ten feet high, may be set equally well, either 
in the autumn or spring. Trees of large size 
should be moved, late in autumn, in the win- 
ter, or quite early in the spring. Trees of 
medium and moderately large size, may in- 
deed be set, at any time, from the fall of the 
leaf in the autumn imtil the buds begin to ex- 
pand in the spring, provided the xneather is 
not freezings and the ground is not too wet. 
In setting trees of medium and large size, if 
the trunk of the tree is crooked, place the tree 
so that it shall crook toward the prevailing 
wind to which it is to be exposed. In almost 
all places in interior New England, this will 
be found to be the north-west wind. If the 
tree is straight and handsome, set it with its 
longest limbs toward the north. By observing 
these 'rules, you will have the satisfaction of 
seeing your trees growing more and more 
symmetrical and beautiful every year. 

The ancient precept, teaching to set the 
sides of the tree to the same points of compass 



63 

at which they previously stood, is of not the 
slightest consequence. From a disregard of 
the rules just given, three-fourths of the old 
orchard trees, now standing in Massachusetts, 
are leaning awkwardly over toward the 
south-east, where they have been turned by 
our prevailing north-west winds. 

Ornamental trees are generally set, at the 
same season with fruit trees. The evergreen 
tribe are, however, best planted out, just as 
their buds begin to swell in the spring. They 
are also successfully set, in autumn, and also 
during the last of May and first of June.^ If 
their roots are exposed to dry, out of the 
ground, they are about certain to die. If the 
root of an evergreen is much diminished by 
removal, it will be found advantageous to 
shorten-in symmetrically its side limbs, but 
never head off the lea ding shoots of evergreen 
trees. 



* This last is said to be the best season for removing evergreen 
trees from a forest into an open exposure. 



SECTION I. 

TRANSPLANTING TREES OF SMALL SIZE. 

Small trees, of less than three-fourths of an 
inch in diameter, are very easily re-set. If 
you wish to put them in nursery-rows, i. e., 
to trench-plant them, dig a little trench, suffi- 
ciently wide to receive their roots without 
cramping them. Make this trench by a tight 
line, so that it shall be straight. Cut off the 
tap-roots of the trees, if they have any, and 
shape their side-roots as handsomely and 
evenly as may be convenient ; then cut off the 
top, (or, what may answer, pick oif the alter- 
nate buds,) of the tree, so as to restore its bal- 
ance of power between root and top. Set the 
roots at the same depth in the ground that they 
stood before being removed ; carefully spread 
them out horizontally and straight, and work 
the soil well among them with the fingers. 
After they are covered, the ground should be 
pressed around them with the foot. Nursery- 
rows should always be set by a tight rope, so 



65 

that they may be straight ; for a nursery-man 
who has his trees in crooked rows, deserves to 
be called a , or some worse name. 

Deep tillage is essential to the success of 
cultivating trees. Nursery land ought to be 
ploughed and subsoiled, to the depth of from 
a foot to twenty inches, and there is little dan- 
ger of too highly enriching it. All stones 
larger than a hen's egg should be picked off. 
The best nursery land for fruit trees generally, 
is that which would produce a hundred bush- 
els of Indian Corn to the acre. Subsoil 
ploughing, although little practised, should be 
regarded as almost indispensable. 

The highest and driest land of a nursery 
should be occupied with peaches-and cherries ; 
then pears; still lower down, apples and 
plums ; and lastly, the quince and grape, 
which will bear J though they do not need^ a 
moister soil than some of the others. 



SECTION II. 

TRANSPLANTING TREES OF MEDIUM SIZE. 

Trees of medium size, say from five to ten 
feet high, such as are commonly taken from 
the nursery to the fruit-garden or orchard, are 
not generally set with sutlicient care. There 
is no more false economy than that which 
does this work hastily and imperfectly. It 
were much better not to attempt this labor at 
all, until one has time and means wherewith 
to do it well. • 

1st. Preparation of a place for setting' 
the tree. Dig a hole, avoiding the sites of old 
trees, five to seven feet in diameter, and fif- 
teen to twenty inches deep, placing the sods, 
if in sward-land, in one heap, the soil in an- 
other, and the subsoil in a third. The diam- 
eter of the hole ought to be, at least, three 
times that of the clump of the tree's roots. 
Holes of this size, and, in deep, rich land, even 
smaller ones will answer. But», if the planter 
has patience to dig still wider, and to any 



67 

depth less than three feet, he will find himself 
amply repaid, in the better growth and health 
of his trees. If holes are dug over twenty 
inches deep, they may be filled np to that 
depth with cobble stones, old bones, or even 
gravel. The rest of the hole should be filled 
with a mixture of the soil, subsoil, and rich, 
black loam, or well rotted compost manure, to 
the height where it is proper to place the tree. 
With the hand or spade shape the soil for the 
roots, into the form of a little cone, on which 
to set the hollow in the centre of the clump 
of roots. If this is done some weeks, or even 
months, before setting the tree, it will be all 
the better. 

2d. Preparing and placing the t?^ee. Ifthe 
ground is dry, or if the roots have been much 
exposed to the air since the tree was taken up, 
soak the roots and the lower part of the trunk 
in Avater, twelve or twenty-four hours. Cut 
oft' all bruises and broken ends of roots smooth- 
ly with a knife, and shorten-in the longest, so 
that the clump of roots may have a somewhat 
circular form. In cutting a root, always en- 
ter the knife upon the under side, and bring it 
out, with a slopC; to the upper side, so that 
the fibres which may shoot out from the edges 



68 

of the cut, shall strike downward into the 
ground, instead of upward, as they would 
were the cut made as it commonly is. If tlie 
tree is quite large, and a considerable quantity 
of its roots has been lost in removing it, its 
branches must be shortened back, or the alter- 
nate buds thinned sufficiently to restore the 
balance of power between the parts below and 
those above the ground, for reasons already 
explained. This being done, set the tree and 
gently press it down upon the place designed 
for it. As there Avill be a tendency for the 
tree to settle down in its new location, the 
planter should aim to have it stand higher, 
rather than lower than it stood previously to 
being moved, — remembering that nothing is 
more fatal to the grovvth and health of a tree, 
than to bury its roots unnaturally deep in the 
ground. Trees of medium and large size, set 
upon a very gentle elevation like a turtle's 
back, succeed admirably; and so, if a tree 
should by accident be set rather too high, the 
ground can be raised a little around it; or, if 
this be omitted, the roots will easily strike 
downward, whereas, the roots of a tree too 
deeply set, cannot shoot upward, except in 
the very offensive form of suckers. 



69 

3d. Fining up around the tree. With good, 
rich soil; fill up under, among, around and 
above the roots, straightening them out with 
the fingers, and placing them in a fan-like 
and natural position, — being very cautious 
not to leave any, even small, hollow places 
among them. If the root is one-sided, make 
the most you can of the weaker part. At this 
stage of the work, if you have patience, it is 
an excellent plan to make a circular dam 
around the edge of the hole, and keep it full 
of water, for a half hour or more. In setting 
evergreens, this, by some, is deemed almost 
indispensable, unless the ground is quite 
moist. Next, put in a little more earth, pres- 
sing it around the tree with the foot. After 
this, throw on an inch or so of loose earth, 
and the work is done. 

Another mode of filling up around the trees, 
called mnddmg-ln, has proved very success- 
ful. Make the circular dam around the tree 
first, or, as soon as it is needed, then let one 
person slowly sift the soil into the hole upon 
the roots, Avhile another constantly pours in 
water, thus keeping the earth in a thin, mud- 
dy state. This operation will require consid- 



70 

erable time, but its success is perhaps more 
certain than that of any other mode. 

The best cornpost-manure for trees, wlierc 
the soil is poor, is a mixture of two parts of 
muck or peat-earth with one part of barn -yard 
manure, adding, if convenient, a small quan- 
tity o-f wood-ashes or pulverised charceal. If 
these have been mixed some months, or even 
a year or two previously to being used, the 
composition will be all the better. Never put 
raw manure in contact with the roots. 

4th. After -treatment. When the tree is 
transplanted in the fall or winter, it is ex- 
tremely advantageous to place a conical 
mound, consisting of from five to ten bushels 
of soil or compost-manure, close around the 
tree to save it from being disturbed by the ac- 
tion of the frost. This mound should be re- 
moved in the spring. It is generally best to 
put a stake down, to which the tree may be 
tied, for the first season after being set. This 
ought to be done before filling up the hole, in 
order not to bruise the roots. Large cobble 
stones laid close to a tree, answer quite as 
good a purpose. \J$ee Chajjter VII] 



71 

If the tree languishes, when it commences 
growing, cover the ground in a circle of three 
or four feet in diameter aroujid it, with coarse 
straw or htter from the barn-yard, laying on 
sods or stones to keep this from being blown 
away. This process is called Mulching. It 
keeps the soil moist, and in that state of equa- 
ble temperature most fav^orable to the growth 
of young roots. Watering on the surface, 
without iiudching^ is almost always injurious. 
Feeble trees may also be benefitted, by shading 
them with pine boughs, &c. * If, with all this 
care, the tree continues still feeble, head back 
its top yet more severely, and water the leaves 
and twigs, every evening, with a water-pot. 

If, having followed all the above directions, 
the planter still finds his tree standing season 
after season, neither growing nor fruiting, but 
only existing, let him consult his true interest, 
by transferring it to the wood-pile. Why 
cumbereth it the grouud? 

Nursery trees, five to eight or ten feet high, 
are greatly improved by being taken up and 
re-set in rows again. Take them up, shape 
the roots, and head in and form the tops. If 
this work be properly done, the value of the 
trees will double in two years. 



72 



Small and medium-sized trees may be trans- 
planted, with certain success, and without 
suffering scarcely a perceptible check, by the 
made of Balling described in the next section. 



SECTION III. 



TRANSPLANTING LARGE TREES. 

Owing to the humid atmosphere of England, 
large trees of the forest and the orchard, are 
frequently transplanted there without scarcely 
any risk of losing them. Here, the chances of 
succeeding are greatly lessened, by the hot 
penetrating rays of the sun, and the conse- 
quent transpiration of the trees. With suita- 
ble apparatus, however, and at no great 
expense, our large fruit trees may be re-set, in' 
a manner similar to that just described for 
medium-sized trees. But the cheaper and 
safer mode is that called Balling. This mode 
is as follows : — 

1st. Hole for receiving the tree. This 
should be dug, in the fall, before the ground 
is frozen. It should be made, say not less 
than from twenty to thirty inches deep, and 
at least two or three feet in diameter larger 
than the circular mass, hereafter described, 
containing the roots of the tree. 



74 

2d. Removing the tree. At a distance from 
tho trunk of the tree, of from two to five feet, 
according as its diameter is from five to twelve 
or fourteen inclies, dig a circular ditch around 
it, eighteen to thirty inches deep; smoothly- 
cutting off all the lateral roots, close to the 
central mass of earth. This ditch, dug late 
in autumn, must be kept free from snow, un- 
til the enclosed ball containing the roots of the 
tree, is thoroughly frozen. With iron-bars 
and levers, force up this circular mass of 
earth, and place two or more strong skids un- 
der it. Bjr means of a strong set of pulleys, 
with oxen attached; if necessary, the mass of 
earth, and the tree altogether, m^ust be drawn 
over the skids up out of the hole, upon a stone- 
boat or sled, the tree standing vertically, just 
as it grew. Thus loaded and secured, it may 
easily be drawn to the spot selected for it. 

3d. Placifig the tree. Measure the depth 
of the ball containing the roots of the tree, and 
fill up the prepared hole to such a height, that 
the tree, when placed in it, may stand quite 
as high above the surrounding ground, as it 
did before it was taken up. Next, lay strong 
skids from the sled or stone-boat, into the 
hole, and slide the tree carefully into it, using, 



/ o 



if necessary, two sets of pulleys, for this is 
heavy work. Raise up with a lever, and 
block the mass of earth, until the tree stands 
properly erect, and then carefully fill in, all 
around and under it, with good soil enriched 
with compost manure. The earth for this 
purpose should be kept protected from frost, 
either under boards and straw, by the side of 
the hole, or in barrels, in some barn or cellar. 
The top of the tree ought, of course, to be 
headed-in, if much of the root is taken off. If 
deemed necessary, the tree, for the first and 
second seasons after its removal, may be kept 
supported by three long heavy stakes or poles, 
set triungularly, slanting, and bound against 
the trunk of it. Give it a good mulch'mg the 
first summer, and it will be almost certain to 
live; and, when you gather its fruit or sit be- 
neath its shade, and listen to the songs of birds 
among its boughs, you will feel repaid an 
hundred fold for the trouble and expense, 
attending its removal. 



CHAPTEE V. 

PRUNING. 

Trees which have been properly formed in 
the nursery, will afterward need but little 
farther pruning, except to remove suckers, 
broken limbs, and dead wood. This and 
other light pruning, ma}^ be done late in the 
winter, early in the spring, or in the latter 
part of June, just as it will best suit one's 
convenience. 

What is called very heavy pruning, should 
always be avoided, if possible; but, when 
really necessary, it should be done in the win- 
ter or early in the spring. 

To form the head of a large tree, which has 
been neglected for years, requires much judg- 
ment, caution and skill, it is labor that ought 
never to be entrusted ^o inexperienced hands. 

In countries where trees are trained upon 
the sides of walls, fences or trellises, pruning 
is reduced to a science ; but here little is at- 
tempted, in this way, except to promote the 



growth, to improve the form, or to increase the 
ffuitfuhiess of trees. Pruning ought to be 
performed with sharp tools. When the saw 
is used, the ends of the hmbs should after- 
wards be carefully pared with a knife. They 
should then be covered with some composi- 
tion to protect them from the weather. 
Downing's Gum-Shellac is admirably adapt- 
ed to this purpose. This preparation is made 
by dissolving a quantity of the gum in alco- 
hol, so that the. composition shall be of the 
consistency of thin molasses. The liquid 
should be kept in a wide-mouthed bottle, the 
cork of which should have a wire (running 
through it into the bottle,) with a sponge at- 
tached to the end of it. 

Thus prepared, the composition may be 
very conveniently applied, wherever it may 
be needed. We cannot too highly recommend 
this preparation for the purposes for which it 
is designed. 

I. PRUNING TO IMPROVE THE GROWTH AND FORM 
OF A TREE. 

The growth and health of a tree may be 
greatly improved, and its form rendered far 



78 

more comely and beautiful, by a proper and 
seasonable pruning. 

1st. Heading'in. Trees are headed back, 
in order to restore a balance of power between 
the root and the top. We have already ex- 
plained this in the Chapter on Transplanting. 
Feeble trees of all sizes are benefitted by this 
treatment. When a large tree is to be grafted 
over, it may be headed back, if you choose, a 
year or two previously, and the scions or buds 
may be inserted into the young, thrifty shoots 
that will be emitted from the ends of the limbs 
where they were sawed off. By judicious 
grafting and pruning of these, a new, hand- 
some, and very valuable top may be put upon 
an old and apparently worthless tree; but you 
must not forget to dig and enrich the soil 
around its roots, at the same time. Young 
trees, two or three years from the seed, or one 
year from the graft, are not unfrequently head- 
ed down to two or three buds, on purpose to 
strengthen their growth. A single bud is then 
trained vertically, and the rest pruned away 
in the course of the summer. In such cases, 
the growth of the top being attended with a 
corresponding increase of fibrous roots, the 
tree at once becomes vigorous and healthy. 



79 

Peach trees, in our climate, are highly ben- 
efitted, by thus shortening-in annually, in the 
spring, one-half, or thereabouts, of th-eir entire 
growth of the previous summer, all over the 
heads of the trees. 

Dwarf-pears on quince, also require a simi- 
lar heading-in, annually each spring, so long 
as they continue to make a growth of scions. 

2d. Pruning to improve a tree's form. 
This is quite a matter of taste. Shortening- 
in may be made subservient to this end, by 
cutting so as to leave a wood-bud just beiov/ 
the cut, on that side of a twig or limb which 
is farthest from the central parts of the tree, 
or which faces the direction in which it is de- 
sirable that the limb should extend its growth. 

A tree may branch out too low or too high ; 
its top may be too open or too crowded. The 
limbs a-lso may cross each other in such a 
way as to give a disagreeable, tangled appear- 
ance to the head of the tree. It is always 
best to inspect a tree carefully, before com- 
mencing operations, and then to proceed de- 
liberately ; for one hasty cut may impair the 
beauty of a tree forever. 

The lower side limbs of young trees, in the 
nursery, ought to be cut in, at first, to an inch 



80 

or two from the trunk ; the next year, they 
may be cut in closely. Trimming up a small 
tree to a tall, smooth trunk, too suddenly, has 
a tendency to weaken its constitution, and to 
permanently injure it. 

When the fruit cultivator does not do this 
with his own hands, he should take especial 
care to whom he entrusts it. Some cultivators 
consider the whole family of pruning tools as 
a nuisance, arguing that, by attending to the 
trees in season^ the whole business of pruning 
can be accomplished, by the thumb and finger 
only, — pinching off^ in the bud, what in fu- 
ture years might make work for the saw or 
knife. 

II. PRUNING TO INDUCE FRUITFULNESS. 

Scientific pruners have the power to extort 
from their trees large crops of fruit. But they 
well understand, that it is not always their 
true interest to exercise their skill for this pur- 
pose. Nor is this without reason; for erro- 
neous opinions prevail in regard to the 
productiveness of trees. The sap that pro- 
duces fruit, is so much withdrawn from that 
general circulation which causes the growth 



81 

of wood and leaves. Consequently-j whatever 
treatment a tree receives, calculated to ob- 
struct the flow of the sap. or to accumulate it 
at any pomt, causes the formation of blossom- 
buds, and the subsequent production of fruit. 
There are a variety of modes to accomplish 
this, which will be described in the proper 
place. This end is attained by j^runing^ — - 

1st. By pnining the top. Hence the excel- 
lent practice, above described, o^ shoriening-in 
the Peach, Nectarine, and Apricot, has this 
farther desirable result of causing the sap to 
collect in the remainder of the branches. 
While we thus diminish the bearing wood, 
and of course the number of specimens of the 
fruit, we greatly enhance the valuable of the 
crop. For one large peach — and it is gener- 
ally true of other fruits — is worth twice its 
weight of smaller ones of the same variety. 
A similar shortening-in of trained fruit trees, 
practised in England, at mid-summer, causes 
fruitfulness, upon the same principle. Thin- 
ning out the crowded head of a large tree, 
also has the same eftect, the superabundance 
of sap, supplied by the roots and trunk, indu- 
cing the growth both of wood and fruit, in 
the remaining parts. 



82 

2d. By pruning the root. This mode of 
stunting the growth of a tree, and thereby 
causing that accumulation of sap in the 
branches, necessary to the formation of fruit- 
buds, is one of the very best ways of inducing 
fruitfulness that we are acquainted with. 
This work may be done in autumn, in winter, 
or early in the spring. 

At a few feet from the trunk of the tree, 
varying the distance according to its size, dig 
a circular ditch around it, eighteen or twenty 
inches deep, cutting off all the lateral roots 
smoothly, close to the circular mass of earth 
in which the tree stands, removing the outer 
pieces of roots, from the surrounding ground, 
as much as can be done conveniently. Fill 
up the trench, with good, rich soil, and the 
tree will, in this country, generally be brought 
into a permanent fruit-bearing state. Repeat- 
ing the operation annually, apples, pears, and 
other fruit trees may be rendered productive 
dwarfs, — even so as to be planted only six or 
eight feet apart. And, if at the same time, we 
apply the shortening-in process above describ- 
ed, they may be kept in a beautiful pyramidal 
form, and rendered very profitable. 



83 

There are some important advantages aris- 
ing from this practice. 

1. Root-pruned dwarfs will do well in the 
poorest land, provided they have a few bush- 
els of good earth under and around them. 

2. They may be transplanted as safely and 
almost as easily as a geranium may be re- 
potted. 

Trees dwarfed by grafting, [see Chap. 11. , 
Sec. 2d,] may be rendered still more diminu- 
tive, by this practice ; but caution is necessary, 
for it is easy to overdo this work, and thus 
to enfeeble and finally destroy what we in- 
tended to improve. 

Any fruit tree, in a languishing condition, 
by a combined application of root-pruning 
•with a somewhat severe heading-in of the top, 
may be wonderfully renewed in health and 
vigor. 



CHAPTEH VI. 

TRAINING. 

This constitutes more than one half the 
labor of an English fruit gardener. In the 
United States, out of the vicinity of Boston, 
it is but very little practiced, and, except in 
the extreme northern parts of the country, it 
is not to be recommended to the economiccd 
cultivator. 

1. Training upon a trellis or loall. The 
British gardeners train their trees perfectly 
flat. Taste and ingenuity may weary them- 
selves, in varying this mode of forming trees. 
But taste will always have a regard for a 
symmetrical regularity, in the arrangement of 
the branches of the tree, and ingeiKiity ought 
in all cases to conform to the requisitions of 
taste. 

The branches may be trained regularly 
downward, horizontally, or upward in a 
fanlike manner. It ought to be borne in 
mind, in pruning to shape a tree, that 



85 

whenever a twig- is cut off, the buds on it 
below the cut, have a tendency to turn into 
limbs. The same operation may again be 
performed upon these limbs, and so on. A 
knowledge of this fact, a skillful hand, and 
good taste to guide it, will ensure success in 
all the modes of training which an American 
will wish to practice. 

Out-door grapes may be easily trained in a 
fan-shaped form, having but one smooth trunk 
coming out of the ground, and branching at 
from one to three feet high ; or two branches 
only may be suffered to grow horizontally, 
like two arms, and, from those parallel 
perpendicular shoots may be trained upward, 
at equal intervals from each other. Another 
pair of arms may be made three or five feet 
higher up, and perpendiculars also trained 
from these as before. Late in the autumn, or 
in the winter of each year, cut down these 
perpendiculars, to within two or three buds 
(or eyes as they are called,) of the horizontal 
arms, and in the following summer train up 
other new shoots, precisely as before, suffer- 
ing only one shoot to grow in a place. 
When these perpendiculars have fairly set 



86 

their fruit, pinch off their tip ends, for the 
purpose of forcing the sap into the fruit. 

This may seem severe pruning, but, if you 
desire fruit, instead of wood and leaves, you 
will find your account in it. The health and 
longevity of the vine does not seem to suffer 
at all, by this treatment. The grape, cultivat- 
ed under glass, is even more subjected to the 
knife,, than it is in this mode of open culture. 
[See Allen^s Treatise on the Grajye Vine.] 

Late autumn, or winter, is the best season 
to do this work, so far as the knife is employed 
in it. The vine, and all other trees that are 
inclined to bleed, should receive their heavy 
pruning at this season, and their very light 
trimmings in mid-summer. 

The vine, and other trained trees, are fas- 
tened to their trellises, or to the sides of wall^ 
or buildings, by means of shreds of bass- 
matting, twine, or leather loops put round 
them and nailed. The walls or trellises should 
face the south or south-west, in preference to 
other points of compass. 

It is baldly within the province of this little 
work, to enter into a more particular descrip- 
tion of the training of trees upon walls and 
trellises. Those who desire to investigate the 



87 

subject further, will find details of the modes 
of operating, in English horticultural publi- 
cations. A mode new of training fruit trees, 
practiced in the north of Russia, is well 
deserving of trial in the colder parts of New 
England, especially for cultivating the peach. 
A tree, one year from the graft, is headed 
down to two healthy, strong wood-buds. 
These are trained horizontally, about ten or 
twelve inches from the ground, to a south 
wall; — perhaps the north side of a wall 
might do quite as well, in our more changea- 
climate. These arms are suffered to throw 
up vertical shoots, which become covered with 
fruit-spurs. These vertical shoots are kept 
shortened-in, to a length of not more than 
about one or two feet ; and these with the two 
horizontal arms from which they spring, and 
the short trunk of about ten to fourteen inches, 
in length, constitute all there is of the tree 
above ground. The whole tree may be 
covered, through the winter, with two feet or 
more of soil heaped over it, with a deep bank 
of snow, or with straw, evergreen boughs, or 
the like. 

We have had a similar experiment repeatedly 
try itself J in our garden, where a low limb of 



88 

a peach happened to pass the winter under a 
snow-drift. This branch would show a beau- 
tiful festoon of fruit, the following summer, 
while all the rest of the tree, having dropped 
its frozen blossom-buds, would remain through 
the season, like the fig-tree of the parable, 
having -'nothing thereon but leaves only." 

Instead of only two arms, the Russians, 
with equal success, sometimes plant the tree 
in open ground away from a wall, and train 
similar arms out in every direction, like the 
spokes of a horizontal wheel, tying them down 
thus to trellises made for the purpose. The 
apple, the plum, the cherry have been, and 
perhaps all fruits might be cultivated in this 
way. A reflecting mind will easily take 
hints from these practices, and vary the mode 
©f operating to suit the circumstances of any 
tree that it may be desirable to subject to such 
or a similar regimen. This mode of training 
has other advantages. The fruit is less 
exposed to the wind, the trees also come 
earlier into bearing, and it has been noticed 
that they are less persecuted by insects. 

2. Training of Standard Trees. In 
Chapter Yth, (on Pi^uning,) we have given 



89 

some general directions for forming standard 
trees, and regulating their growth. 

Except for the dwarf pear, this work does 
not need to be done in this country. We 
have thought it best to describe the mode of 
pruning dwarf pears, in the part of the book 
treating of those trees. [See Part II. Section 
on Dwarf Pears\ 



CHAPTER VII 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



SECTION I. 

PURCHASING, PACKING, FORWARDING, AND RECEIVING 
TREES, GRAFTS, &C. &C. 

Purchasing Trees. What has thus far 
been written, will, we hope, prove serviceable 
to those who purchase trees at the nurseries. 
For the benefit of persons who have little 
experience, we will now recapitulate, and add 
some further general directions for buying 
fruit trees. • 

1. Do not buy of pedlars or irresponsible 
persons. Such dealers may offer you trees 
which have received exposure sufficient to 
cause their death, before they are put into 
your hands ; or the trees may be labelled as 
one thing, even when the vender knows them 
to be something else comparatively valueless. 



91 

2. Select, although at a higher pricej trees 
which have been re-set twice or (better yet) 
three times since they came from the seed. 
You will find that such plants possess much 
finer roots than others, and that they will 
suffer far less check from another transplant- 
ing. 

3. In general, avoid trees which made but 
little growth, the summer preceeding your 
purchase. 

4. Observe where the tree is grafted. 
Generally, the nearer this point is to the fruit- 
bearing parts the better. We should, however, 
rather prefer trees grafted at or below the 
surface of the ground to those where the 
operation was performed between that point 
and the point of branching-out. But a fine 
healthy tree worked at any point, is not 
simply on that account to be rejected. 

5. The trunk of the tree should be straight, 
smooth, and stocky. It should branch out, at 
the proper height, and the branches should 
extend upward and outward, forming a hand- 
some open top. If the limbs are crooked, 
entangled, crowded and crosswise of each 
other, it may be difficult for you ever to get 
them into the form you wish, and therefore 



92 

it is not advisable to purchase a tree of that 
description. 

6. Avoid trees of which the grafted part is 
growing larger than the stock. This is an 
evil that will increase, and, unless the point 
of junction is at or below the surface of the 
ground, the tree will disappoint any very 
favorable expectations that its cultivator may 
cherish in regard to it. 

7, Do not be tempted by a cheap price to 
buy a diseased tree. Unless you are a very 
skilful cultivator, you will find much more 
profit and pleasure, in taking care of healthy 
trees, than in endeavoring to nurse those 
which are sickly. A nurseryman of the first 
rank in his business, will hardly offer such 
trees for sale, at any price. 

Packing Trees, Grafts. &c. The trees 
having been taken up carefully, lay them up- 
on the ground, placing their roots even with 
each other, and interlocking the branches so 
as to get them as compactly together as possi- 
ble. With old ship-rope, or any soft cord, 
bind the package firmly together, tying one 
cord around close to the roots, and one or two 
more around the branches ; then immerse the 
roots in very muddy clay water, so as to give 
them a coating of earth. 



Next, let one person hold the bundle on end, 
the roots resting upon a bass-mat. Sprinkle 
among and around the roots, a mixture of 
moss and wet straw ; then tie, or sew the 
matting over them, so as to completely pro- 
tect them from exposure. The remainder of 
the bundle may be covered with rye straw 
laid longitudinally and bound around it with 
twine or old ship-yarn ; or the entire package 
may be sewed up, like the roots, in bass-mats. 
When trees are to be sent a very great dis- 
tance, and of course are to be out of the 
ground a long while, their roots, after being 
immersed in the clay water, are suffered to 
get dry, and then the trees are packed imme- 
diately in boxes, and the interstices among the 
branches and roots are filled with dry moss. 
Trees are very successfully brought across 
the Atlantic in this way. It ought to be borne 
in mind, that it is death to the roots of a tree 
to suffer them to freeze, out of the ground, and 
that it is injurious to allow them to get quite 
dry, in the air. Either exposure is entirely 
fatal to the class of evergreens. 

Where trees are sent only two or three days' 
journey, their roots may be packed in loet 
moss. Scions may be packed in boxes of 

6 



94 

sand or dry moss ; buds should be put into 
moss only. Fruit is best put up, for long 
transportion, in layers of cotton-batting, and 
closely packed thus by hand, in clean tight 
boxes. 

ReceiviJig Trees^ <^c. On receiving trees 
from a distance, examine the roots. If these 
are moist and fresh, they are in a proper con- 
dition for setting. But, if they appear dry 
or shrivelled, soak them in water, (if frozen, in 
very cold water,) from six to twenty-four 
hours. If the trees have suffered so much 
that their tops also are shrivelled, it will be 
well to put the whole package under water 
for a few hours. After this take them out, 
head-in the tops, using as much severity as 
the previous exposure of the package would 
seem to require. The trees should then be 
set, (see Transplanting^) and the ground 
ought to be mulched^ for the first season. 
Should the ground not be ready for planting 
out the trees, lay them in by the heels^ as it is 
called ; that is, dig a trench and put the roots 
of the trees into it, letting the tops stand up- 
right, or lean down quite slanting, as you may 
find it the most convenient ; then bury the 
roots in the ground, and the trees may remain 



95 

for weeks, and, if they are received in the fall, 
even through winter, without injury. Trees 
heeled-in in the fall, should be put down quite 
deep, and the tenderer sorts, especially if they 
have come from southern nurseries, should 
lie in a very sloping manner, having their 
tops protected by coarse litter or straw. It is 
still better to open a deep trench, in a perfect- 
ly dry spot of which the texture admits of 
easy filtration. Let the depth of the trench 
be some three or four feet, and the width suf- 
ficient to contain what trees you may have. 
Place the trees, root and branch, horizontally 
in the trench, filling in, among them, with 
light sand or vegetable mould. After this, 
cover the whole, to the depth of two feet, with 
earth. In extremely cold latitudes, the trees 
ought to be buried still deeper. 

Southern trees may also be kept through a 
northern winter, by heeling them in in a cel- 
lar. They may also be brought from the 
south, early in the spring, and heeled-in in 
a cellar, till the weather shall admit of putting 
them in, out of doors; or, if well packed, they 
may remain in packages in a cool dark cellar, 
for two or three weeks, quite safely. South- 
ern trees, excepting perhaps the pear, properly 



96 

taken up, properly forwarded, and properly 
treated when received, are not much inferior 
to trees which are grown here. Those which 
are generally brought here, have been raised 
under high cultivation; and the purchaser 
not keeping up the same forcing culture, the 
trees have languished and died. Thousands 
of fine southern trees have also been lost, by 
other kinds of erroneous treatment which they 
have received, before and after coniing into 
the purchaser's possession. 

We may add, here, in this connection 
that a root of a tree may be weakened by ex- 
posure^ as well as by diminishing its size ; 
and, therefore, a regard should be had to both 
these conditions, when we head-in its 'top, 
to restore a balance of power between the root 
and branch. 



SECTION II. 



SOILS, MANURES, LOCATION OF ORCHARDS, &C. &C. 

Soils. Downing says a strong loam^ that 
is, a loam having just sufficient inter-mixture 
of sand to make it easily worked, is by far 
the best soil for a fruit-garden or orchard. A 
farmer will be less likely to misunderstand, if 
we should recommend, as the best general 
soil for an orchard, that which will produce 
seventy to one hundred bushels of Indian com 
to the acre. 

This kind of soil, and also that which is 
called a clct^ey loam^ derives great benefit 
from the subsoil plough, or, what is far more 
expensive as it is also much better, trenching 
and mixing the sub and upper soils together, 
say for a depth of from eighteen inches to 
two feet. Whoever is wiUing to be at the 
expense of this work, in a small fruit-garden, 
will find himself repaid by the beneficial 
effects which the labor will have upon the 
growth and health of his trees. 



98 

Where the sub-soil is sand or gravel, top- 
dressing v/ith a little clay and a generous 
quantity of well-rotted manure, is the best 
treatment. 

When the whole garden or field cannot be 
worked over, in this way, a large proportion 
of the benefit may be derived, from preparing 
a place six to twelve feet in diameter, around 
and under each tree according to its size. 

Low, flat land, spongey or peaty soils, par- 
ticularly in our cold climate, are very unfavor- 
able to the growth of fruit. Something, 
however, may be accomplished, even in such 
locations, by setting the trees quite high, and 
placing under them in the holes a drainage of 
small stones and gravel ; and by mixing with 
the soil a quantity of sand, so as to diminish 
the amount of moisture, and to increase the 
warmth which the roots may need to enjoy. 

General Manure for Fruit Trees. The 
best manure for fruit trees in general, is 
composed of about equal parts of meadow 
mud, muck, or peaty earth, and common 
stable manure. A small quantity of wood 
ashes, say four bushels to a cart-load of 
manure, and charcoal dust in about the same 
rafio, may be intermixed with this composi- 



99 

tion, to great advantage. This manure will 
be greatly improved by having been prepared 
and well worked over, some months previous- 
ly to using it. 

Half a peck of bone-dust and a little lime, 
well mixed with the soil when setting a tree, 
or from a peck to a bushel of old broken 
bones, put into the bottom of the hole, before 
setting, will produce the most satisfactory 
results for years to come. Almost any well 
composted manure suitable for corn, will also 
answer for fruit trees. 

Where meadow-hay, straw, or sea-weed 
{or sedge) is cheap, an annual mulching with 
these will be found extremely beneficial. 

Specific Manures. Much attention has 
been bestowed upon this subject, within a few 
years. When the soil and exposure are 
adapted to the wants of any tree, the very 
best specifi.c manure or fertilizer for it, is 
unquestionably the deb?Hs (or perfectly decay- 
ed particles) of a tree of the same species. 

There are, however, far more available 
fertilizers than these. We are indebted to 
Downing' s Horticulturist chiefly, for what 
we shall say further upon this subject. 



100 

The Apple. A peck of air- slaked lime to 
a tree, scattered and slightly hoed in under 
it in autumn, in a circle of six or twelve feet 
in diameter, according to the size of the tree, 
will generally answer. This application, and 
an equal quantity of. wood ashes, applied 
each alternate autumn, with a top-dressing of 
the general compost manure above-described 
will keep an apple tree in fine condition^ so 
far as it is influenced by the soil. 

The Pear. A small quantity of rusty iron 
among the roots of the pear, gives a fine 
healthy appearance to the tree. Another — 
dissolve a pound of potash in water, and 
thoroughly water two bushels of swamp 
earth or muck with it. Let it lie, two or three 
days, and then put a top-dressing of about a 
bushel of this compost to a tree. 

The Peach. Apply half a peck of old 
rusty iron, lightly hoed in close around the 
tree. A half pint of common salt applied 
annually, 'is also beneficial to the peach, and 
nectarine. 

The Plum. A quart of common salt and 
three quarts of lime applied, in the auturnn 
of each year, as a top-dressing, will keep a 



101 

middling sized tree in fine condition. Of the 
two, the salt is more essential than the lime. 
The branches and trunk may be watered 
with weak brine, occasionally to much advan- 
tage. 

The Cherry. The general compost manure, 
with the addition of sand where the subsoil is 
clayey. 

The Q,iilnce. The same as for the apple^ 
with the addition of a small quantity of salt, 
applied as to the plum. 

We know of no better fertilizers for other 
fruit trees and orchards, than the compost or 
general manure, above described. Indeed, 
those which we have just described may not 
be the best. The whole theory and applica- 
tion of specific fertilizers, is as yet very 
imperfectly understood. 

Location of Orchards. The tops of very 
high hills, and low sandy plains, are not 
favorable locations for an orchard. The hill- 
sides are the preferable land for fruit, as they 
are for almost every other crop. Downing 
prefers those slopes which look toward the 
south-west; others consider other aspects 
equally favorable. But, while we would 
concur in Downing's preference, we should by 



102 

no means hesitate to plant a fruit-orchard 
even upon a northern slope, if convenience 
should require it ; for fine, flourishing fruit 
trees of every species, may be found growing 
in every possible exposure, both as regards 
the sun and the wind. 

Orchard Position of Trees. There are 
various modes of planting out trees in the 
orchard. 

1, The equidistant plan of straight parallel 
rows, the trees standing as in the corners of 
the squares of a chess-board. This is the 
common mode in use with our farmers, gener- 
ally. 

2. The thick or hedge-row plan is a modi- 
fication of the above, by which the trees are 
placed quite closely together in the rows, the 
rows being left more widely apart to make 
amends for this lateral crowding. It is an 
excellent practice to set, alternately in each 
row, apples and pears, and a peach or dwarf- 
pear between each of these. The peach or 
dwarf will be worn out with age, before it 
encroaches upon the apple and pear, and the 
apple even will be infirm with years, before 
the longer-lived pear shall have attained its 
maturity of growth. 



103 

The hedge-row mode of setting peach- 
orchards, works admirably. It is also recom- 
mended where it is an object, to make the 
most of what is called the under crop— 
potatoes, onions or the like, — in contra-distinc- 
tion to the fruit which is called the upper crop. 
The rows ought to extend north and south, 
thirty to forty feet apart, and the trees should 
stand about eight or twelve feet from each 
other, in the rows. 

3. The ancient quincmia: plan — where the 
trees are set in the centres of equal circles in 
contact with each other — is recommended 
when one wishes his fruit plantation to be 
as compact as possible. This is the same as 
the above-described equidistant plan, except- 
ing that the trees, in each alternate row, break 
joitits with each other, as the phrase is, a 
tree in one row being opposite to a space in 
the next, etc. When trees of different longevity 
are in this way properly intermixed, the 
closest order of planting has been attained. 

Some recommend to have the rows, in each 
of the above plans, occupy the centres of 
broad flat parallel ridges like a turtle's back, 
the ridges running lengthwise with the 



104 

rows. This secures more warmth and better 
drainage. 

4. The irregular i^lan of j)lant'mg^ after the 
manner of an open natural forest, often 
produces a fine effect. We have seen this 
successfully accomplished even upon a small 
scale ; but it is better adapted to large planta- 
tions, where winding ways, hills, rocks and 
valleys aid in diversifying the landscape. 

Trees in Grass Ground. Trees in mow- 
ing-land should have a circle of six to ten feet 
in diameter around each, kept in a cultivated 
state. A skillful ploughman, with a manage- 
able team and a careful driver, can do this 
work, two or three times in a season, very ex- 
peditiously, by going down one side of a row 
and up the other, putting in shallowly and 
turning out the plough neatly at the proper 
places. Twice a year will answer for this 
work. But have a care how you entrust such 
labor to unskillful or careless hands. Such 
may do the work with a bog-hoe or spade, 
taking special care not to bruise the roots 
in the least. 

Some laborers are so rough, that they ought 
not to be allowed even to look over the fence 



105 

which encloses an orchard, or a nursery. And 
we may further remark, that the whole busi- 
ness of cultivating fruit trees, from the sowing 
of the seed to the gathering of the fruit, ought 
to be entrusted to none but very careful men 
—men of good sense, taste, skill and fidelity. 

Fndting. (^c. Some of the causes of fruit- 
fulness have been explained already. {See 
Chap. F,, Sec, 2d, and observe the general 
jyrmciple there stated.^ The natural and cor- 
rect inference from that principle is, that neg- 
lected cultivation, bending, distorting, and 
even girdling the limbs, a hard lime-stone 
soil or top-dressing with lime, dwai^f- grafting, 
and, in a word, whatever tends to stunt the 
growth, or induce premature old age, operates 
as a cause of fruitfulness. But a word more. 
As the little boy cannot have his cake and eat 
it, so the overgrown boy — we came very 
near saying booby, — who is so importunate 
as to require an immediate income from his 
young orchard trees, ought not to complain of 
their feeble health and early decay. 

First Fruiting. Beware of hastily form* 
ing an opinion from the first fruits of a young 
tree. We have known a peach, through fee- 
bleness, produce little, green, worthless fruit, 



106 

the first bearing season, and, the very next 
year, the tree being abundantly supplied with 
sap, the peaches would grow and swell out 
into large, beautiful, delicious red rareripes. 
We have also frequently seen an almost equal 
improvement in the pear, sometimes even ex- 
tending to the third or fourth season of fruit- 
ingj and, further, it ought to be understood 
that the fruit of some varieties, particularly of 
the pear, may be excellent one season, and 
only ordinary or indifferent the next, for 
causes not yet well understood. 

Thinning-out Fi^uit. The fi*aits of the 
pear and the peach, and, indeed, of all fruit- 
bearing trees and shrubs, may be greatly in- 
creased in size, by thinning out the young 
fruit when it is fairly set. And, as the largest 
specimens are always the most valuable by 
the quantity, this will often be found, by the 
careful cultivator, to be a profitable operation. 

A single peck of large, luscious rareripes, 
is worth a bushel of those little, tough, fibrous 
abominations, such as it is the height of im- 
politeness to offer to a well-fed pig. 

Peach trees, annually shortened-in^ will, in 
general, scarcely need to have their fruits 
thinned. 



107 

Speci?tie7i Trees. Amateur cultivators and 
nursery-men, will often find it convenient to 
have one or more specimen trees of apples, 
pears, &c. Twenty to forty or fifty or more 
varieties, may easily be worked upon a single 
tree ; and one, in this way. may multiply spe- 
cimens to almost any extent, even upon a 
small piece of ground. Dwarf pear trees are 
very pretty for this purpose. 



SECTION III. 

INSECTS, DISEASES, REMEDIES, &C. 

To purchase the best trees, and to set them 
in the best location, and in the most careful 
manner, is so far well. But much more than 
this is necessary. The soil must be tilled and 
occasionally fertilized, diseases require their 
appropriate remedies, insects must be destroy- 
ed, suckers and dead wood must be pruned 
away. Indeed, there is scarcely a month in 
the year, when the hand of the careful culti- 
vator may not find profitable employment 
among his trees. 

We shall, in this place, speak in very gen- 
eral terms of insects and diseases. In the de- 
struction of the one, as in the curing of the 
other, the orchardist ought always to make a 
prompt and seasonable movement ; for insects 
increase with astonishing rapidity, and dis- 
eases, long neglected, can hardly be eradicated 
without destroying the life of the patient. 

Insects are kept away from plants and trees, 



109 

chiefly by strong oifensive odors. Some of 
those that have proved effectual, are the odor 
o£ chamomile, that of coal-tar from the gas 
works, the vapor from oil of turpentine, &c. 

Insects onay he killed^ by liquid applications. 
The best liquids yet known for this purpose 
are tobacco water, and diluted whale oil soap. 

Tobacco Water is made by boiling any 
refuse tobacco in water. It must not be 
excessively strong. 

The whale oil soap is prepared, by mixing 
one pound af it with seven or eight gallons of 
water. These liquids may be applied to 
plants, with a water-pot, or a syringe having 
a water-pot rose upon the end of it so as to 
scatter the Water more effectually. 

Half a pound of quassia, boiled a few 
ininutes in six quarts of water, is a liquid 
said to be quite as efficacious as the tobacco- 
Avater. 

All plant lice and almost all small insects, 
can be killed, by the application of either of 
these liquids. A mixture of them might 
possibly be even more eflfectual than either 
used by itself. Strong suds made of common 
soap answers tolerably well, in many cases. 

Much has been accomplished, by kindling 

7 



110 

bonfires in a fruit-garden, at night. Thousands 
of winged insects, from a sort of instinctive 
fondness for the light, fly into these fires and 
perish at once. 

Wide-mouthed bottles, filled with molasses 
and water, and suspended among the trees, 
will speedily become full of insects. 

The animal tenants of our grounds — the 
toad, and the bat, — will also lend us their valu- 
able assistance, if we are kind to them. The 
sparrow^, also, the robin, and some other birds, 
render such important services in the exter- 
mination of various kinds of vermin, that the 
fruit-gardener ought always to cultivate 
their friendship, notwithstanding their dispo- 
sition to test the quality of his finest cherries 
and other smaller fruits in their season, 
laughingly warbling their criticisms in his 
face, at the same time. 

Nearly all diseases in fruit-trees are occa- 
sioned, or greatly aggravated by insects. We 
shall treat of these more particularly in the 
following pages, under the head of each class 
of fruits. 

Fruit Stealing. Other "varmm^^," larger 
although more despisable than insects, some- 
times sneak into your fruit-grounds, to 



Ill 

steal and destroy. Every man who enters 
your enclosure without your consent, and 
takes away, from off or from under a tree, an 
article of fruit, is a thief. Deal with him as 
such. Keep him oift with a picket fence, or 
a watch-dog. Apply the scourge and the 
disgrace of legal prosecution. Perhaps the 
experiment of thorn hedges may be found to 
ainswer a good purpose. But if these dissua- 
sives fail, like the turf of the old man in the 
fable, you must " try what virtue there is in 
stones f for while so many of our American 
citizens continue to steal our fruits, and thus 
evince a wicked meanness which would 
disgrace a savage in uncivilized countries, 
certainly a man can hardly be censured for 
defending his fruits, cultivated or wild, from 
the poacher, in the same manner that Uncle 
Sam himself is wont to repel an invading 
enemy from his own large and growing plan- 
tation. As the penalty for the theft ought to 
be in proportion to the difficulty of identifying 
the thief, he who pilfers from an orchard 
deserves to be far more severely punished, 
than the easily-caught purloiner from a fruit- 
stand in the market. And further, whenever 
the law of the land fails to protect a spirited 



112 

man, he will not be backward in making and 
executing a more effecttial law of his own. 

More might be said, but less would suffice, 
if the men of the school^house and the pulpit 
would all fearlessly discharge the duties 
incumbent upon their stations. In some 
heathen countries, where we send our mission- 
aries, the necessity for fences, locks, and 
other protectives against the sin of theft ^ is 
entirely unfelt and can scarcely even be 
conceived of. 



SECTION IV. 



IMPLEMENTS, MATERIALS, ETC., USED IN THE NUR- 
SERY AND ORCHARD. 



Labels, There are various modes of label- 
ling trees. Labels of pine or cedar, brushed 
over with white paint, and written upon with a 
lead pencil before the paint is dry, answer a 
good purpose for six or eight years. They 
should be fastened to the tree, with copper 
wire, in such a manner that they will not be 
blown about and broken off by the wind, and 
they should be watched occasionally, lest the 
tree grow so as to be girdled by the wire. 

Lead labels, stamped with type or dies, are 
far more durable. They may be made of 
long narrow strips of the metal, and wound 
round a limb or twig of the tree, or they may 
be attached by means of copper wire. 

A convenient, cheap, and very durable 
label, may be made of zinc. 

1st. The Form. Cut strips of zinc of an 
elongated triangular form, ten to twelve inches 



114 

long, half an inch wide at one end and 
running to a point at the other. 

2d. The moda of Fastening. About four 
inches from the wide end of one of these strips, 
cut a sUt, or pun6h a hole. Bend the pointed 
end of the label over a twig of the tree, and 
put it, say one-fourth of an inch through the 
slit or hole, and clinch it with the fingers or 
with a small pair of pincers. It may then 
easily be bent and shaped, so as not to be 
moved by the wind. 

3d. The Writing. Write with a quill pen, 
on that part of the label between the hole and 
the wide end. The ink to be used is made of 
— Verdigris, (powdered) two parts ; sal ammo- 
nia, two parts ; lampblack, one part ; water, 
twenty parts. Mix these ingredients in a mor- 
tar, using at first only so much of the water 
as suffices for mixing them, and adding the 
remainder afterward. Put the ink into a well 
corked bottle, and shake it from time to time. 
In a few days it will be fit for use. When 
laid away, let the bottle stand cork-end down- 
ward, to prevent the escape of the ammonia. 
The ink may, in this manner, be kept ready 
for use, for years. 

Labels of this description cost but a trifle 



115 

more than wooden ones, and they will remain 
upon the trees, and be legible, during a maa's 
life-time. Instead of this ink, the writing, 
made with a common lead pencil, becomes, 
after two or three days' exposure without wet- 
ting, almost indelible, and will last for a long 
time. 

The initials of a name, or the number of a 
fruit, may be cut in the bark of a tree without 
injury. Such marks remain legible for many 
years. 

Sifjjports. Trees newly set, often require 
support against the force of the wind. When 
a stake is used, it ought to be three or four 
inches in diameter. There will be an advan- 
tage in setting the stake in the hole, before 
planting out the tree. The bottom of the 
stake may stand, one or two feet from the bot- 
tom of the tree, and the top may slant up so 
as to touch the tree. Pare the side of the 
stake next the tree smoothly, in a crescent 
form, so as to fit the form of the tree, and bind 
the two together with a soft rope, previously 
winding an old cloth round the tree to prevent 
its being chafed by the stake. Short stakes, 
two feet above the surface of the ground, are 
often sufficient for the support of a tree. 



116 

Large cobble stones, of the size of a bushel 
basket, laid close around a newly set tree, are 
quite as good as stakes. 

Tools ^ Materials^ (^*c. Many and various 
tools and materials are employed in horticul- 
tural labor. The Tree-scraper is used for 
taking off moss and rough bark, from un- 
healthy or large trees. The Prmiing-knife 
is a large hooked jack-knife, for cutting off 
the smaller limbs, in pruning. There are 
several kinds of P riming- saw s ; some are 
narrow, so that they may be used to make a 
curv^ed cut ; some are contrived to be fitted 
upon a pole, so as to cut limbs not otherwise 
easily accessible. A common small handsaw 
will answer nearly every purpose. The 
Budding-knife is used for budding; the 
Grafting-chisel^ for grafting. The Nursery- 
shears are used for pruning limbs of the size 
of the finger and smaller. A modification of 
these, called an averruncator by the English, 
may be attached to a pole and worked by 
means of a cord. These are sometimes used 
in cutting scions, clearing off caterpillars' eggs, 
or, with a little basket attached, in gathering 
a fine specimen of fruit, not easily to be come 
at by other means; when made quite strong, 



117 

they are serviceable to the pruner. Portable 
Steps, or Self-suppoi'ting Ladders, are of 
great use, in gatiierixig fruit, killing insects, &c. 

Russia matting is used for packing trees, 
and shreds of this material are extensively 
employed in budding, tying, &c. American 
matting, made of bass-wood, has recently 
come into use as a substitute for the Russian. 

Cotnmon meadow 7nQSs, is one of the best 
tilings in which to pack the roots of trees, or 
buds or scions which are to be sent some dis- 
tance. Buds and scions may be wrapped 
singly, in oiled silk, when oi>e wishes to send 
them to a distance. 

Stakes for heading nuysery rows, to be dura^ 
ble, ought to be made of chestnut, They 
should be two or three feet long, having their 
upper ends planed smoothly for a space of 
eight or ten inches. This smooth part should 
be brushed over with white paint, and imme-* 
diately written upon with red chalk. 



SECTION V. 



THE NURSERY BUSINESS. 



Many American nursery-men have failed * 
others have abandoned the business for more 
lucrative employments ; a very few have found 
it a tolerably profitable occupation for a series 
of years. 

A great deal depends upon the location, in 
itself, and also with reference to a market. 
The same capital and labor employed upon 
one piece of land, might bring in a handsome 
return, on another, the loss would be ruinous 
to the proprietor.* 



* The location in itself. — A somewhat elevated, gentle slope, 
looking toward the south or southwest, is perhaps the best aspect. 
A deeply tilled, hig-hly enriched sandy loam is the best soil for 
the generality of nursery trees. Cultivate cherries and peaches 
upon the highest and driest parts j upon the next lower ground, 
apples and plums ; still lower down, quinces and grapes. 

The location in reference to a market. — Experience has proved 
that a location in the suburbs of a large town or city, although 
costing J^500 to 5 1000 per acre, is better than a retired locality 
upon much cheaper land 5 for a nursery -man must sell as well as 
cultivate his trees. 



119 

The whole annual cost of conducthig a nur- 
sery, in New England, for a series of years, 
will not fall short of $200 per acre.^ A few 
lines will exhibit some of the items of this 
expense : 

Rent, or Interest on suitable land, near a good 

, tree-market, ^30.00 

Labor, of men, &c. — planting out, cultivating, 

grafting, pruning, taking up, selling, &c., 90,00 

Stock, — including a due proportion of the first 
outlay, the annual cost of seeds, stocks for 
grafting, tools, &c., &c., — taking the annual 
average for a series of years, . . . 35,00 

Manure, 15,00 

Advertising, 5,00 

Incidental expenses, . . . . . . 5,00 

Interest, annually accruing on these outgoes before 

the trees are sold, 20,00 

Toted Annual Expense o£ a one-acre nursery, . ;g200,00 

The above items would vary greatly of 
course, in different localities, and also, from 
year to year, in the same nursery. Such an 
average estimate cannot be very accurately 
made ; but whoever thinks it may be too large, 
will find no difficulty in swelling it to the 
present amount, by adding the losses arising 

* This cost is very clearly shown, in detail, in the Albany Cul- 
tivator — Sept. No. of 1848 — page 279. Two very important er- 
rors, in the article, will be found corrected on the 310th page of 
the Oct. No. of the same year. Ambitious young nursery -men 
will do well to read attentively the article alluded to. 



120 

from the numerous accidents that destroy so 
many young trees, and from the depreciated 
value of fine trees that have become unpopu^ 
lar varieties since they were grafted ; the 
bad debts also, which are never paid, the cost 
of collecting good debts, discount on retail 
prices, &c., &c. 

Five thousand saleable trees are the very 
utmost that an acre will, in general, produce. 
The average age of the trees sold, is certainly 
not less than five years. Therefore, but one 
thousand trees, upon an average, can annually 
be sold from a one-acre nursery: in favorable 
years, more, in others, less. 

Thus it appears that five years' old nursery- 
trees must be sold at an average price of about 
twenty cents apiece to defray expenses. But 
the nursery-man must support himself, not 
from outgoes, but from profits ! Put the 
price at twenty-five cents a tree, and fifty dol- 
lars profit will be left annually in the hands 
of the proprietor of a one-acre nursery. If it 
be objected to this calculation that many trees 
are sold at much higher rates, let it also be 
understood that such trees are often eight or 
ten years old. In a word — from a little expe- 
rience, and from considerable observation of, 



121 

and enquiry into the experience of othfers, \v6 
very confidently affirm it as our belief that 
the nurseries of New EnglaUd have not, for 
the last ten years, yielded a net profit equal 
to fifty dollars per acre for the grounds which 
they have occupied. 

Again, young trees are liable to many inju- 
ries. Thousands, are winter-killed. Others 
die from the uncongenial nature of the soil. 
The inserted buds are frozen ; the grafts are 
dried up ; the trunks are gnawed by mice ; the 
roots are thrown out by the heaving of the 
soil ; the foliage and the young growth, in a 
dry season, are often destroyed by lice and 
other vermin. 

Thousands upon thousands of fine trees are 
lost every year, in some or all of these several 
ways. Many perish under the hands of un- 
skillful or careless laborers. Many also, with 
the best care, never become saleablCj from 
crookedness, deformity, &c., &c. 

Nor is this quite all. A fruit, this year 
extremely popular^ will tempt the nursery-man 
to graft it very extensively. Three or four 
years hence, when these trees are ready for 
market, lo and behold ! further trial has fair^ 
ly and satisfactorily proved the variety to be 



122 

\\)^otthless. "Thus, all these grafted trees be- 
come at once unsaleable, and their value sinks 
even lower than that of good thrifty stocks of 
the same age; for many of them will hardly 
out-grow the severe discipline of another 
grafting. 

Whoever contemplates engaging in this bu- 
siness, must also bear in mind, that the faith- 
fulness and ingenuity without which a very 
considerable part of the work were better not 
done, cannot be commanded at the ordinary 
prices for which an Irishman will shovel 
gravel. So true is it that the more of intellect 
or of other qualifications is required of labor, 
the more exacting does it become. You must 
pay for a two-footed simpleton more than 
for a horse, for an American more than for 
an Irishman, for mechanical labor more 
than for field work, for professional services 
still more, and so on. 

It will be seen at once then, that, under 
these circumstances, a nursery-man, who is 
his own foreman and labors constantly in the 
field with his men, might support his family 
by the business, while another, of more gen- 
teel ideas, would find it difficult to live by it. 

And there is another strong reason for this 



123 

difference of result* As a Roman writer ob* 
served, two thousand years ago, " Wherever 
the eyes of the master most frequently ap* 
proach, there is the greatest increase." Every 
one knows this to be true in general, but unre- 
flecting inexperience does not know that the 
expression has a very peculiar force of mean- 
ing, with reference to the management of a 
nursery. 

Another thing, — the nursery- trade is not to 
be learned in a single week. Ten years' ex- 
perience might grow rich in the business, 
where five years could hardly get a living, 
and a yearling novice would certainly starve. 

The nursery business requires very much 
more skill than ordinary farming, and its pro- 
fits are far more uncertain. Upon the whole, 
it is a much better avocation, to amuse a rich 
man's leisure, than to replenish a poor man's 
purse. The reader may rest assured, that 
there is no more satisfactory Way of arriving 
at a realizing sense of the truth of this asser- 
tion, than to give the business a thorough trial. 
For ourselves, we confess that we have fairly 
and clearly*" seen the elephanV^ that eats up 
the profits of raising or buying fruit trees, for 
sale. 



SECTION VI. 



THE ORCHARD BUSINESS. 



As we have remarked elsewhere, there is 
\\o better orcharding country hi the world, 
than the hill-sides of New England. A little 
detail will show what might be done in this 
business. Forty apple trees of the largest 
size can stand upon an acre ; and, producing 
annually but two barrels apiece, the crop is 
worth not less than a hundred and twenty 
dollars— which is the interest of two thousand 
dollars per iacre. Deducting the cost of the 
labor of managing it, and making every al- 
lowance for other drawbacks^ and this busi- 
ness would still appear to be more profitable 
than any other kind of agriculture. But since 
what has been may be more satisfactory than 
what might be, we appeal to faclis. From the 
windows where we are writing, we look out 
upon apple trees, which we know have pro- 
duced, during the last ten years, an annual 
net profit, fully equal to the interest of one 



1U5 

thousand dollars per acre, for the land which 
they have shaded. And let no one anticipate 
a glutted market, so long as our manufac- 
turing villages, yearly increasing in number, 
are still but imperfectly supplied, and partic- 
ularly so long as the fruiterers of London 
palm off the products of British orchards, un- 
der the attractive recommendation of " Ame?^- 
ican apples.^' 

Much of the rocky hill-side land of New 
England, now considered unavailable for oili- 
er uses than that of pasturage, could, with a 
moderate outlay, be converted into excellent 
orcharding. It seems very strange, that our 
farmers should think so lightly of this very 
feasible operation, now that the demand for 
cider no longer requires to be supplied. A 
bushel of Baldwins, neVer worth less than 
forty cents, may be grown with but little more 
expense than it formerly cost to raise a bush* 
el of nondescript apples, which, in the palmiest 
days of the cider-press, never were worth 
more than ten ce?it$. Most marvelous mis- 
takes have been made, in cutting down old 
cider-orchards, instead of saving and grafting 
over the most healthy of the trees. Many such 
trees, thus altered into good .fruit, scraped, 
8 



126 

dug around, and manured, would have gladly 
given the farmer five dollars worth of fruit, 
for every day that he might have thus kindly 
devoted to them. The case of old neglected 
pear trees is still more deplorable. 

A hundred standard pear trees need not oc- 
cupy over an 3.(Ke of land. Their annual 
crop, if of proper varieties, would certainly 
not fall short of the value of five dollars for 
each tree. Excellent judges assure us that 
this estimate is quite too low. But even at 
this moderate computation, the income from a 
single acre of pears would amount to the an- 
nual sum of five hundred dollars. And the 
labor attending the good management of the 
trees and their crop, would be less than what 
is usually bestowed upon many other products 
of the farmer's fields. 

Four hundred dwarf pear trees would have 
plenty of room upon an acre. Under the care 
of a skillful cultivator, they might be made to 
yield a much more valuable crop than the 
same piece of land, in pear-rooted standards. 
Some writers say more than double the crop 
would be produced by the dwarfs. Thus the 
income from a single acre of fruit trees prop- 
erly cultivated and managed, might easily be 



127 

made to exceed that of some entire farms. 
We have spoken only of apples and pears. 
But much might also be accomplished, even 
in our comparatively rigorous climate, with 
peaches, cherries, &c. And there is little to 
be apprehended from competition, even in the 
less difficult branches of fruit culture. We 
would hardly make an exception to this re- 
mark, in favor of the peach — a tree of the 
very easiest cultivation, in all places where it 
does not suffer from the severity of the weath- 
er in winter* 

Yet, — and this is important — let no one hope 
for success in this business, unless he have 
taste for it, a skillful hand, and a willingness 
to devote himself personally ^ and with assid- 
uousness to the work. It will not do to turn 
into your orchard the first straggling laborer 
who applies for employment. Neither can 
you with impunity neglect your trees, when 
they require the fostering hand of the cultiva- 
tor. 

Constant attention, patience, perseverance, 
and unremitting care, are just as essential to 
the success of an orchard, as is the soil in which 
it grows, or the air in which its leaves tran- 
spire. 



128 

For lack of these, perhaps nearly one half 
of the trees annually taken from our nurse- 
ries, are consigned to the wood-pile, within 
&VG years after they are set out ; and the dis- 
appointed purchaser curses the nursery-man, 
his soil, the climate, and even the stars of 
heaven, when, in truth, only himself is at 
fault. What Horace said of things in gene- 
ral, applies with the strongest force to the 
orcharding business: ''Life gives nothing to 
man, but at the price of great labor.^'^ '^ 

Yet, if a New England farmer's son shall 
have been trained to habits of industry, and 
to a taste for these pursuits, and there shall 
descend to him an inheritance of a few pater- 
nal acres of thriving fruit trees, let him thank 
God that he was not born heir-apparent to a 
European Throne. i 

* * * * Nil sine magno 

Vita labore dedit mortalibus * * ♦ 

lib. J: 8ai.9, 



CHAPTER VIII. 



MONTHLY ROUTINE OF LABOR AMONG FRUIT TREES. 

A chapter upon this subject may serve to 
remind the reader of work which he might 
otherwise forget, thus furnishing idle hours 
with profitable employment which might oth- 
erwise be crowded into more busy seasons of 
the year. 

JANUARY. 

You can work this month, during pleasant 
weather, pruning and scraping your orchard 
trees that need this care. You can cut scions, 
and also splice-graft little stocks previously 
heeled-in in your cellar, for that purpose. 
Trim your hardy grape-vines, if you had not 
time to do it last month. 

Tread the snow around your standard and 
nursery trees, so as to keep the mice away 
from them. 

Examine and attend to all your trees that 



130 



need labelling. Prepare a good supply of la- 
bels for another season. Pick or cut off cat- 
erpillar's eggs from your apple trees. 



FEBRUARY. 

Finish the uncompleted work of last month. 
Large trees, previously prepared, may be 
moved in this or in either of the two preceding 
months, by what is called ihe frozogi hall mode. 
[See Transplanting i Sec. 3d.] 

MARCH. 

Prune gooseberries and currants. Graft 
cherries and plums, in mild days. Prune and 
tie up raspberries. In the latter part of this 
month, you may head down trees that were 
budded last autumn. Shorten-in peach-trees, 
dwarf-pears, &c. 

APRIL. 

Complete the unfinished work of liast month. 
Uncover tender grapes, &c. Weed strawberry 
beds, and set out new beds of this fruit. Plant 
out also cuttings of gooseberries, currants, 
quinces and grapes, — the latter two in shady 
and favorable situations, or they will not suc- 
ceeds Crack and plant plum and peach stones. 



131 

As soon as the ground and weather will per- 
mit, transplant first evergreen, then fruit and 
ornamental trees generally. Plant out the 
trees which you root-grafted in January and 
February. Dig around orchard-trees standing 
in grass-ground, in this, or in any other month 
in the year when you have leisure. Complete 
grafting cherries and plums, and commence 
grafting apples and pears. 

MAY. 

This is a very busy month. Get up early 
in the morning. Finish the work of last 
month as soon as you can. Endeavor to keep 
down all weeds while they are young, and 
thus save one-half of the labor attending 
this work. Cut what are called robber-shoots^ 
off of all budded and scion-grafted stocks, 
unless the bud or scion is very weak, or does 
npt appear likely to live. Stake and tie crook- 
ed and newly set trees that need tying. 
Examine the peach, apple and quince, for the 
borer-worms that infest them. Put down 
layers of the quince and grape. Put your 

* Robber-shoots are those which grow out of the stock belo^ 
the bud or scion. Sometimes these ought to be destroyed grad* 
ually, if the bud or scion is weak. 



132 

horse and cultivator in motion seasonbly 
among your nursery rows. Brush off and 
destroy caterpillars, early in the morning and 
in wet days. Attend also to your ornamental 
trees, plants, and flower-beds. 

JUNE. 

Cultivate around your trees in grass-grounds 
Finish the uncompleted work of last month. 
Thin out overbearing fruit-trees. Train 
grape-vines. Make war upon weeds every 
where. Cut off the blight from pear-trees, 
and the black-knot from plum-trees. Exam-i 
ine for borers in apple trees, &.c.> &c. Keep 
down robber-shoots on your grafted stocks. 
We may add, though the remark does not 
properly belong here, that evergreen orna^ 
mental trees may be successfully transplanted 
during the last week of last month, and the 
first ten days of this. If they suffer much 
loss of root in the operation, mulek them, and 
trim their tops, by shortening-in uniformly all 
the limbs except the top or leader. This lat^ 
ter, once cut off or broken, can with difficul- 
ty be restored again, even on a small tree. 

JULY. 

Cpntinue your warfare upon weeds, traiaing 



133 

the grape, cutting off blight and excresences 
from trees, destroying borers, &c. 

Bud cherries and plums in the latter part of 
this month, as soon as the buds become ripe 
enough for use. Attend to shortening-in dwarf 
pear-trees, if you prefer to do this by the 
pinching-off process, described under the 
head of Quince-boUomed dwarf pears. 

AUGUST. 

Put down grape and other layers, if you 
have not done it in the spring. Continue 
budding plums and cherries. Simultaneously 
with, and after cherries, bud pears, either on 
quince or pear stocks ; then apples tiU into 
September. Strawberry plants may be set 
during this and the early part of next month ; 
but, in our cold climate, it is quite as well to 
defer this work until spring. Apricots on 
plum stocks may be budded this month, on 
peach stocks, say about the first of Septem- 
ber, 

SEPTEMBER. 

During the first week of this month bud 
quinces, if you wish ; finish budding other 
trees, and then bud peaches, from the first to 



134 

the middle of the month. Remove, loosen, 
or re-tie the bandages of budded trees which 
are beginning to be girdled by them. It is an 
excellent practice to untie such bandages, and 
immediately tie them on again, more loosely. 
Dig holes and prepare soil for transplanting 
medium or large sized trees. 

OCTOBER. 

This is a good month for setting an or- 
chard. Follow the directions for Autumn trans- 
planting, and you may successfully plant out 
any fruit-trees of orchard si^e, from the latter 
part of this month, until they begin to leaf 
out in the sipnng^— --provided, the ground is 
not too wet, and the weather i$ not down to 
the freezing point. ^ 

NOVEMBER. 

Manure your trees. Top-dress strawberry 
beds. Lay down and cover tender grape- 
vines, &c., &c. Small trees, layers, &c., 
designed for setting next spring, may be heel- 
ed-m deep, out of doors. Small stocks for 
root-grafting in winter, should be heeled-in, in 
a cellar, in a box of loam if you prefer, where 
they will not freeze. Scions may (if neces- 



136 

sary) be cut Put them in a cellar, with 
their lower ends in the ground. Prepare large 
trees for moving, by the frozen ball method. 

DECEMBER, 

Complete the unfinished work of last month. 
If the weather is right, move and set the large 
trees prepared in that month. 

Do work as in the month of January also, 
The leisure hours of this and the two ensuing 
months, may be very profitably em,^loyed, in 
reading the various horticultural publications 
of the day, — works which Poverty herself 
cannot keep out of any hands that desire to 
possess them. 



PART II. 



OF THE CULTIVATION OF THE SEV- 
ERAL SPECIES OF FRUIT TREES. 



PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 

The preceding chapters contain informatiori 
tipon the cultivation and management of fruit 
trees generally. 

We now propose to entet into a particulsir 
examination of the character and habits of 
the several specie^ of fruit trees adapted to 
open culture in Oitr climate, and the proper 
care necessary to be bestowed upon each. In 
order that \^e may understand what are the 
claitas of New England, as a fruit- growing 
country, we borrow a few words from Gene- 
ral Dearborn, the first President of the Mass. 
Horticultural Society. 

*' Among all the fruits which are produced 
upon the earth, the highest position has beeti 
given to the Mangostan, which is indigenous 
to Java and other island in the Indian Arche- 
pelago; the second has been assigned to the 
Pine Apple, the third to the Orange, the fourth 
to the Peach, the fifth to the Grape, and the 
sixth to the Pear." But this is not the order 



140 

of precedence with these fruits, even in sd fat 
as they admit of out-door Cultivation in the 
rigorous climates of the north. 

The fruits of our eastern states, in the or- 
der of their comparative value, should, we 
think, be arranged thus. — the Apple, the Pear^ 
the Peach, the Cherry, the Quince, the Plum, 
the Grape, the Apricot, the Nectarine, the 
Strawberry, the Currant, the Gooseberry, the 
Raspberry, and (we hardly know where to 
insert it,) the Cranberry. In this arrangment^ 
we commence with tree-fruits and end with 
berry-fruits ; otherwise, we should have placed 
the Strawberry, and, perhaps, the Currant 
also, between the Quince, and the Plum, 
where, we think, they have reputation suffi- 
cient to sustain themselves easily. 

We are entering upon by far the most diffi- 
cult part of our work. The writings of 
Thomas and Downing, and even of our near- 
er neighbors, Kenrick, Hovey, Manning, Ives, 
and others, are adapted to soils and climates 
differing from those of the elevated rocky re- 
gions of the interior of New England. Nor 
is this all. The testimony of cultivators in 
our most immediate vicinity, is by no means 
unanimous. Occupants of adjoining farms, 



141 

growing fruits for the same purposes, speak 
in terms of praise and condemnation of the 
same varieties of fruits. We have even known 
an intelligent orchardist to cut his scions from 
the same limb that another of equal intelli- 
gence, had sawed off as unworthy of cultiva- 
tion. These remarks apply with more or less 
force to our fruits and fruit trees generally. 

Something, nevertheless, may be done, and, 
so far as it in us lies, we shall endeavor hon- 
estly and faithfully to do this something, to 
the best of our humble ability. 

It is important to say that many fine fruits 
are purposely left out of all our Descriptive 
Lists. Of some of these the reputation has 
not been sufficiently established ; others have 
not proved uniformly productive and hardy ; 
others have been too variable in their quality ; 
and of others the omission has been justified 
by other seemingly sufficient causes. 

It will be obvious to whoever reflects upon 
the matter, that such small lists as we have 
chosen to confine ourselves to, are not easily 
compiled. One man's family consumption, 
nearness to a good market, taste, fancy or pe- 
culiar whim, may be such that he will prefer 
to cultivate almost exclusively — say of ap- 
9 



142 



pies — the summer or early autumn varieties. 
Another man diflferently situated, cultivating 
for dissimilar purposes, and aiming to gratify 
entirely different taste, fancy or whims, may 
desire to cultivate none but winter fruits. 
Still a third class of men may desire altogeth- 
er other fruits, and so forth. 

Occupants of city-gardens, having only two 
or three trees, would probably wish to cul- 
tivate such fruits as can be enjoyed in perfec- 
tion, only when eaten directly from the tree. 

Those possessing but a single tree would 
be able to attain this object, by having two or 
three such early varieties worked upon it to- 
gether, trusting to the market for a supply of 
those fruits which have better keeping prop- 
erties. 

It would be desirable to extend these gene- 
ral remarks ; but ours is a little book, and we 
must hasten along to other subjects. 

In preparing our Lists, we have followed 
the Catalogue of the London Horticultural 
Society, as giving a greater amount of in- 
formation, in a small space, than any other 
plan with which we are acquainted. In our 
particular descriptions of thequahty of fruits, 
we have followed the mode adopted by the 



143 



American Congress of Fruit-growers. Their 
three grades of quality and the types or pat- 
terns of each, may be conveniently exhibited 
in the following little 

TABLE OF aUALITY. 



FRUITS. 1 GOOD. | VEKV <300D. | BEST. 


A""3. M,«S'' 


Gravenstein. 


Esopufc Spii- 
zenburg. 


PiEARs. 1 Napoleon. | Bartlett. | Seckel. 


Peaches. 


Crawford's 
Late. 


Old Mixon Free- 
stone. 


George IV. 


'Cherries. | Black Heart, | Ellon. | Black Eagle. 


Plums. 1 Lombard. | Washington. | Green Gage. 



Many fruits are so much affected by the 
season, cultivation, soil, health of the tree, 
&c. &c. that they, in some years, seem to 
belong with the good, and in other years, 
-with the very good, or even the best. Thus 
of many it is difficult to decide, whether 
some should be generally classed as good or 
very good, and whether others generally be- 
long with the very good or the best class. 

A very explicit notion of quality, therefore, 
must not be expected from the following tables 
of fruits. We intend to give a general idea 
only of this characteristic, and the same also 
of the size, and, in a less degree, of all other 
properties and characteristics of fruits. Per- 



144 



feet accuracy, in these matters, is altogether 
an impracticable thing. 

TABLE OF SIZE, 



FRUITS. 1 LARGE. | MEDIUM. | SMALL. 


Apples. 


R. I, Green- 
ing. 


Roxbury Russet. 


Golden Rus- 
set. 


Pears. | Bartlett. | Buffum. | Seckel. 


Peaches. 


^^" ford""^'"'" 1 ^""'^y ^^«et ^'^^^' 


Early Anne. 


1 Black Tarta- 
CHERRIE8. 1 rg3„ 


Black Heart. 


Black Maz- 
zard. 


■^ Plums. | Washington. | Imperial Gage. | Green Gage. 



We have made the above Table of Size on 
our own responsibility, and we wish it to be 
interpreted in the same manner as that of 
Quality above. Thus, apples about as large 
as the R. I. Greening, and all larger apples, 
will be marked with the figure 1, indicating 
la?'ge ; apples about the size of the Roxbury 
Russet, will be marked with a figure 2, indii' 
cdXm^ medium-sized ; apples about as small 
as the Golden Russet, and all smaller apples, 
will be marked with the figure 3, indicating 
small; and the same also in regard to the 

other fruits. 

We repeat, that perfect accuracy ought not 
to be required, in regard to these things. 

We will not deny that possibly we might 



145 

have selected better types of size than those 
included in the above table ; but we thought 
it preferable to use such as were the most 
generally known. 

In regard to the Uses of fruits, many of 
those marked as dessert or table fruits, are 
also valuable for culinary purposes ; and some 
of the finer kitchen fruits are also esteemed 
for the dessert. 

NOMENCLATURE. 

In designating fruits, we have adopted the 
general usage of our own neighborhood^ as 
being the best suited to our purpose, without 
any regard to what may or may not be stand- 
ard authority elsewhere. 

Unfortunately the nomenclature of fruits is 
still in a very unsettled condition. Whether 
in a country where every one feels so sensi- 
tively his own political importance and per- 
sonal rights, an entire uniformity in this re- 
spect is attainable, is with us rather more a 
matter of hope than of confident belief 



CHAPTEE I. 



THE APPLE. 



One of the good old fathers of Enghsh 
Pomology, some two hundred and fifty years 
ago, wrote, — 

'' I have seen in pastures about the grounds 
of a worshipfuU gentleman, dwelling two 
miles from Hereford, so many Apple trees of 
all sorts, that the servants drink for the most 
part no other drink but that which is made of 
Apples. The quantity is such, that by the 
report of the gentleman himself, the Parson 
hath for tythe many hogsheads of cyder. 

The hogs are fed^ with the fallings of 
therrij which are so many, that they make 
choice of those Apples they do eat, who will 
not taste of any but the best." 

This little item of history, without going 
farther back to Roman authority, shows that 



147 

the cultivation and uses of the apple are no 
new things under the sun. Indeed, a fruit so 
hardy, so productive, so easy of cultivation, 
coming into maturity during so many months 
of the year, and adapted to such numerous 
uses, must ever be deserving of the first atten- 
tion of the orchardist. 

The apple is cultivated both as a standard 
and a dwarf. 



SECTION!. 



STANDARD APPLE TREES. 



Choice of a tree. — A good apple-tree for 
setting in an orchard, should be from about 
seven to eight or ten feet high, and branching 
out, according to the owners' taste, at any 
point from four to six or seven feet from the 
ground. The limbs ought to be well formed, 
diverging handsomely and equally in every 
direction, and they, and the trunk also, should 
be entirely free from moss or black canker. 
The length of the scions on the ends of the 
limbs, is a good criterion of the trees' health. 
The trunk ought to be straight, smooth and 
stocky. 

The collar — or part of the trunk just at the 
surface of the ground — should be free from 
the appearance of borers. The root ought to 
be well formed and, like the top, diverging 
equally in every direction, having a plentiful 
supply of fibres, particularly in its outer por- 
tions. 



149 

One must not expect to find all these desira* 
ble qualities combined in every tree that he 
raises or purchases : and of course they are 
not all essential; — but the purchaser should 
always unite as many of these good proper^ 
ties as he can. 

Soil. — The apple vvill thrive in any deep, 
rich soil, except the very dry or very wet. 
'• A strong loam of a calcareous nature," says 
Downing, " is its favorite soil, in all coun- 
tries." Kenrick recommends ''a deep pan 
soil rather moist than dry ;" Thomas, " Such 
soil as will give good crops of Indian corn." 
Hill-sides are very much preferable to plains. 
Rocky hills, too steep or rough for other cul- 
tivation, may be converted into profitable 
orcharding. 

If the soil is damp and low, the trees should 
be set somewhat higher than they stood in the 
nursery. The trees may even be placed di- 
rectly upon the surface of such grounds, and 
sufficient soil carted around them to cover 
their roots properly. But it is much better to 
dig holes, two or three feet deep, and put into 
them a drainage of cobble stones, brick-bats 
or other rubbish. 

On the contrary, if an orchard is to be set 



150 

out upon very dry land, plant the trees quite 
as deep as they grew in the nursery, and give 
them a rich, generous soil around their roots, 
and a heavy mulching also. We cannot im- 
press it too strongly upon the reader's mind, 
that drainageis necessary in quite moist land, 
and that a deep, rich fertile soil is essential to 
the success of an orchard, wherever it may 
be situated. 

Distance. — Apple-trees may be set for a 
limited time, say fifteen feet apart ; and, when 
they become half grown, every second row 
each way may be removed to some other place, 
leaving the remaining rows thirty feet apart 
each way. Full grown apple-trees require to 
stand from thirty to forty feet apart, and this 
is the proper distance for setting a permanent 
orchard. 

Transplanting. We have already given 
all necessary directions for transplanting 
trees. The apple will bear more abuse in the 
planter's hands, than some other trees. But, 
by all means, let this work be done well, or 
not at all ; for an extra half hour's labor, and 
twenty-five cents' worth of rich soil at set- 
ting, will be re-paid to the planter an hundred 
fold in the improved growth and healthiness 
of the trees. 



151 

Cultivation. We have stated, in the first 
chapter of our little work, that a fine fruit- 
tree is the combined product of nature and 
human skill. It is not enough therefore to 
select a good apple-tree, and to plant it out in 
the best manner. A great deal of further 
care must be bestowed upon it. The cater- 
pillar and the canker-worm must be gaurded 
against or destroyed; the famishing mouse 
must not be suifered to gnaw the trunk under 
the friendly shelter of the snow-crust ; and 
the insidious borer must be made to under- 
stand that his intrusions are not to be tolera- 
ted. Moss should neither be permitted to over- 
grow the trunk and limbs, nor a thick grass- 
sward to bind itself around the tree and ab- 
sorb the moisture of the earth about its roots. 
We have already given general and sufii- 
cient directions upon this subject. It should 
be remembered that the apple-tree will always 
be abundantly grateful for a deep rich soil, 
and generous cultivation. Cattle ought nev- 
er to be turned loose into an orchard, un- 
less one wishes to destroy it. If it is not de- 
sirable to cultivate the whole orchard, cultivate 
a circle around each tree, say quite as many 
feet, as the tree is inches, in diameter, and let 
the rest of the field be mowing-land. 



152 

Pruning. Whenever the apple needs heavy 
pruning, the work may be performed at any 
time from the latter part of autumn till early 
in the spring. Light pruning may be done 
at the same time, or it may be advantageous- 
ly deferred till the latter part of June. The 
apple, once properly formed in the nursery, 
needs little further pruning, except to remove 
suckers, and dead limbs, (which always ought 
to be taken off,) and occasionally also a limb 
that is growing so as to deform or crowd the 
head of the tree. 

DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF APPLES. 

Nearly fifteen hundred varieties of the ap- 
ple have been tested, in the garden of the 
London Horticultural Society, and several 
hundred also in this country. 

Instead of this formidable, worthless cata- 
logue, we propose to describe only twenty-eight 
varieties— all of which we know to be here un- 
impeachably excellent fruits. 

We have numbered and described them 
nearly in the order of their ripening. This, 
as we have before remarked, cannot be done 
very accurately, for reasons already stated ; 
and, further, because several ripen simulta- 



153 

neously; some also ripen gradually, Avhile 
others ripen suddenly, and are quickly gone. 
Some, more than others, are hastened or re- 
tarded in their approach to maturity, by the 
state of the weather in different seasons, 

&C. &/C. 

For size, quality , c5*c., see the Preliminarij^ 
Remarks to Part II. of this Book. 



154 



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156 

The list just given comprises twenty-eight 
varieties of the apple. For general cultiva- 
tion in the interior of New England, we con- 
sider this the best list of that number of va- 
rieties of which the reputation is as yet well 
established. We have prepared it with a 
great deal of care, and have confidence that 
it will prove satisfactory to the fruit-growing 
public who consult it. 

Crab Apples are sometimes desirable for 
preserving, &c. The best two are the Yellow 
Siberian and the Red Siberian. If any one 
prefers that these should be of a dwarfish 
size, he should select trees that have been 
worked upon paradise stocks. 

Those who would go beyond the limits of 
the above descriptive list, can select from the 
following : 

Summer Apples ^ — Astracan, Benoni, River 
(a capital fruit, but the tree is a very poor 
bearer,) ^c. &c. 

Autumn Apples^ — Duchess of Oldenburg, 
Foundling (or Shirley,) Fameuse, (Red) 
Hamburg, (/or cooking ^^ &c. &c. 

Winter Apples. — American Golden Russet 
(very fine,) Minister, Jewett's Fine Red, Blue 
Pearmain, Seaver Sweeting, Dutch Mignonne, 



157 

(perhaps) Northern Spy, Lady Apple (very 
pretty and also very small,) Sutton Beauty, 
Rockport Sweeting, Black Gilliflower, Sweet 
Russet (fine for baking,) 6lc. 6cc. 

Select List of twelve varieties. — We sub- 
mit the following : — Summer — Early Harvest, 
Early Sweet Bough, Williams's Early Red. 
AMtumn — Porter, Leland's Spice, Gravensteiir. 
Winter — Hubbardston Nonesuch, R. L Green- 
ing, Baldwin, Esopus Spitzenburg. Spri?ig, 
— Danver's Winter Sweeting, Roxbury Rus- 
set. 

Select List of six varieties. — Siimmer^ — 
WiUiams's Early Red. Autumn — Porter, 
Leland's Spice. Winter — R. L Greening, 
Baldwin. Spring — Roxbury Russet. 

A single Apple- Tree for a city garden, 
might be grafted with three sorts, viz : Wil- 
hams's Early Red, Porter, Leland's Spice;— 
being thus limited to a single tree, it would 
be better to buy later varieties. 



10 



SECTION II 



DWARF APPLE-TREES. 



No one, we suppose, will attempt to culti- 
vate these little trees in this country, except- 
ing for ornamental purposes. They are very 
pretty garden pets in the midst of a flower- 
bed, or at the corners of alleys, or elsewhere 
where fancy may locate them. They sel- 
dom bear more than a dozen or twenty apples, 
and therefore the economical orchardist, look- 
ing to profit alone, ought not to consider them 
as worthy of his attention. To form these 
dwarfs, set grafts of such apples as you de- 
sire into what are called Paradise, or by the 
French, Do7ici?i stocks.* These stocks are 
of rather a tender habit, and they require kind 
treatment, and a generous rich soil. Where 
a number of these trees are planted together, 

* The Paradise is a distinct kind of apples. Its stocks aro 
raised, in Europe, from suckers or from cuttings and layers. 



159 

they may be set three or four feet apart. 
They are subject to the same diseases and 
depredations of insects to which apples on 
free stocks (i. e. apple seedling stocks) are li- 
able. There is nothing very peculiar in the 
management of the dwarf-apple. Its place 
is the garden, not the field ; still less will it 
answer to put these little trees in grass-ground, 
or to subject them to rough usage. 

Very large sized apples, such as the Twen- 
ty Ounce and the Gloria Mundi ; fine looking 
apples, such as Leland's Spice, the Lady Ap- 
ple, Maiden's Blush, Siberian Crab, <fcc., are 
pretty for this mode of cultivation. 



SECTION III. 



INSECTS, DISEASES, kC. 



The insect-enemies of the apple are chiefly 
the Caterpillar, the Canker worm, the Borer, 
and the Appleworm. 

1. The Caterpillar. Several species of this 
insect prey upon the apple leaf; but the com- 
mon caterpillar which is hatched and comes 
out just as the leaves begin to expand, is the 
pest of the orchard, unless it is promptly des- 
troyed. 

The character and habits of this insect are 
too Avell known to require a description here. 

By far the most effectual way of destroying 
them, is to pick off their eggs any time from 
autumn till the last of April. These will be 
found on the outer parts of the tree, just at the 
base of the young wood of the previous sum- 
mer's growth. They may be taken off with 
the fingers, or cut off with a pruning knife or 
the pole-shears, which we have described un- 
der the head of Implements. {Seepage 116.) 



161 

The eggs are deposited in cylinders, or 
rings, about half an inch wide, presenting the 
appearance of a small quantity of brown wax 
encircling the twig. When taken off with 
the fingers, they separate easily and leave the 
twig entirely clean. 

If this work has been neglected, other means 
must be resorted to for destroying this insect. 
A caterpillar-brush affixed to a pole, is the 
best of these. Go among your trees, early in 
the morning or in a wet day, when the vermin 
are all in their nests, and you can easily wipe 
them off with your brush, before they shall 
have done any injury. 

2. The Canker-worm. Whole orchards 
in New England have been destroyed by the 
ravages of this insect. Happily it does not 
make its visits every year, but only after long 
intervening periods, — making its appearance 
gradually from year to year until in the third 
or fourth summer, the orchard will appear as 
if it had been burnt over with fire. 

Whenever the ground is not frozen, from 
the first of November till the middle of May, 
the female of the canker-worm crawls up the 
trees to lay her eggs. The most effectual way 
to prevent her ascent that we are acquainted 
with, is to tar the trees. 



162 

With this design, says Kenrick, the bark 
around the circumference of the trunk is 
scraped smooth, and the crevices in it where 
the appUcation is to be made are filled with 
clay or mortar. Over this a strip of canvass, 
three or four inches wide, is bound around the 
tree, the lower band consisting of a large tow 
cord, to prevent the running down of the tar 
and its consequent injurious effect on the tree. 
On this strip the tar is laid with a brush. 
The tarring ought to be applied, every after- 
noon toward sunset when the weather is 
moderate and the ground unfrozen, from the 
first hard frosts in October till the latter part 
of May. A small portion of soft grease may 
be mixed with the tar to preserve it from dry- 
ing, and in this way it will answer to visit the 
trees every other day. Some farmers apply 
the tar directly to large trees without the 
canvass, and we have not seen any injury 
resulting from the practice. Tarring two 
years in succession in the months of March 
and April has entirely rid orchards of this 
pest. 

Downing says, old India Rubber, melted in 
an iron vessel over a very hot fire, forms a 
very adhesive fluid, which is not effected by 



163 

the weather, and < is preferred by those who 
have tried it, as being a more convenient and 
serviceable article than tar, for smearing the 
bandages. 

It is hardly necessary to say that the object 
of the tarring process, is to stop and entrap 
the female in her ascent to lay her eggs. It 
will readily be seen therefore that the omission 
of a single night favorable to the movements 
of the grubs, may prove fatal to the remedy 
for that season, and defeat the whole object of 
the labor previously bestowed. {Kenrick.) 

Various other methods of destroying this 
insect have been tried, but with only partial 
success. The above described mode, faithful- 
ly followed, we have known to be attended 
with perfect success. 

3. The Borer. This insect enters the tree, 
chiefly from an inch or two below, to a foot 
above the surface of the ground ; but some- 
times even as high up as the branches. The 
eggs are laid, from the last of April till into 
June. Upon small trees, an effectual preven- 
tive consists in washing the parts of the trunk 
exposed to attack, with a solution of one 
pound of good potash dissolved in about four 
or five quarts of water. A small conical 



164 

moimd of ashes, leached or unleached, put 
around the tree in the spring, sometimes 
affords them sufficient protection. A wrapper 
of brown paper previously saturated with 
strong tobacco water, would doubtless prevent 
the insect from depositing its eggs. 

The presence of the borer already in a tree, 
is indicated by the dust, (resembling a spoon- 
full or more of saw dust,) which he ejects 
from his hole. If taken early, you may de- 
stroy him with the point of a knife. When 
he is farther in the wood, use a flexible barbed 
wire, with which to extract him or punch 
him to death. A good ear will be able to hear 
the success of the latter operation. 

4. The Apple-worm. This insect frequent- 
ly destroys or greatly injures more than one 
half the entire crop of a tree. ' Thomas says 
the best preventive is to allow swine to eat the 
wormy fruit, as fast as it falls, thus destroying 
the enclosed insects and preventing their 
spread. A quart of salt sprinkled over the 
ground under a large tree each year, will be 
found to diminish the number of these insects, 
and add also to the health and productiveness 
of the tree. In all your warfare with insects, do 
not forget that a prompt^ early movement is 
nine tenths of the victory. 



165 

5. The Woolly Aphis. This insect^ (^p/n> 
langinera,) called erroneously in Europe the 
American Blight, has as yet rarely made its 
appearance in this country. In France and 
Germany, and in other parts of Europe, it is 
the pest of the orchard. 

The appearance of this insect is like a 
small quantity of down or white frost, in the 
forks and crevices of the twigs and branches. 
This, examined with a glass, proves to be 
composed of an immense number of woolly 
lice. If not destroyed, they will increase very 
rapidly. Fortunately the remedy is an easy 
one. Loudon says it is only necessary to 
wash the affected parts, with diluted sulphuric 
acid — one ounce by measure of the sulphuric 
acid of the shops, mixed with ten ounces of 
water. This liquid should be applied, by 
means of a piece of sponge or rag tied to a 
stick, the operator taking especial care not to 
get it upon his hands or clothes. One appli- 
cation of it, assisted by the disseminating 
powers of the next succeeding rain, will effect- 
ually destroy these insects. 

We noticed a slight appearance of the 
woolly aphis in the nursery last summer. 



166 

Black Canke7\ The trunk or limbs of trees, 
affected with this disorder, should have the 
diseased, black outer bark carefully shaved 
off, in the month of June ; after which apply 
a generous coating of the gum-shellac com- 
position, described in the Chapter on Pruning. 
We have practiced this with great success. 

Blight. — Apple-trees are sometimes affected 
by a disease, similar to what is called the 
Pear Blight. For a description of the disease 
and the best known preventives and remedies^ 
see the Chapter on The Pear. 

Bearing year. In common management, 
this takes place each alternate year. By 
thinning out half the blossoms on the bearing 
year, you may easily have about an equal 
quantity of fruit, every season. The bearing 
year may be entirely changed, by taking off 
all the blossoms or young fruit on that year, 
and allowing them to remain, on the year 
which we wish to make the bearing one. 

We have a fine Baldwin, one limb of which 
was several years ago struck by a frost, while 
in full blossom. When the other parts of the 
tree are loaded with fruit, this has none at 
all. On the alternate years, this bears two or 



167 

three bushels of fine apples, wliile there are 
scarcely as many single specimens, on the 
whole of the rest of the tree. What nature 
did in this case, art may easily effect upon 
other trees. 



SECTION IV. 

GATHERING AND RIPENING THE APPLE. 

The following remarks are intended, chiefly; 
to apply to winter varieties of the fruit. 

Mr Pell, the great orehardist of Ulster Co., 
N. Y., reccommends to gather the apples 
carefully by hand on a dry day ; lay them 
gently by hand twelve or fourteen inches deep 
on the floor of a cool dry room, and let them 
dry and season there, for three weeks. Then 
carefully take 'them up, on a clear day, and 
pack them by hand, in clean dry barrels, 
filling the barrels so full that a gentle pressure 
will be necessary in order to head them up. 
In this way they may be kept without rotting, 
and safely sent to any part of Europe, or tho 
West Indies. (^Genessee Farmer.) Smaller 
quantities of apples may be put up, in com- 
mon, tight, wooden buckets. The best place 
for keeping them, is a dry airy room or cellar, 
of which the temperature ranges from 35^ to 



169 

45*^ Fahr. Thomas recommends packing 
alternate layers of apples and dry chaff mixed 
with a small portion of dry, pulverized lime. 
Apples for exportation are often wrapped each 
one separately in clean soft coarse paper like 
oranges, and then put up, in boxes or barrels 
as above directed. 

The common practice with our best or- 
chard ists here in Worcester, is to gather 
winter apples, during the last week in Septem- 
ber, generally. 

The fruit is taken from the tree, when it is 
not moist with dew or rain ; it is at the same 
time assorted and carefully placed directly in 
clean, dry, tight flour barrels. The barrels, 
when filled, are placed on the north side of a 
fence or building, or in some other cool, shady 
out-door situation, and then covered with 
boards, in such a manner as to keep out the 
rain and cold. Here they are left, until the 
danger of freezing requires them to be removed 
into a cellar. The best fruit cellar is one 
which is dry, airy and of a uniform tempera- 
ture of about 40° Fahr. Fruit will very 
soon decay in a close, damp cellar, particularly 
if the cellar is also warm. Late-keeping 
apples, like the Roxbury Russet, should be 



170 



headed-up in the barrels, as soon as they are 
gathered, and it is not well to open them, un- 
til the latter part of winter, unless they are 
wanted for use sooner. 



SECTION V. 



USES OF THE APPLE. 



We shall treat of this topic quite summari^ 
ly, lest we trespass upon ground already 
occupied by the numerous Cook Books and 
Kitchen Guides, with which species of litera- 
ture the public has been so plentifully sup- 
plied. 

Uses of the Pulp. From the first of Au- 
gust, for ten or twelve months, the finer sorts 
are extensively used for the dessert. 

In the kitchen it enters largely into the 
composition of numerous articles of food, 
sauces, jelUes, pies, tarts, &c. &c. It is boiled 
in dumplings ; and it is roasted for the sick. 
Apple-Butter^ or apple-sauce, is a common 
side dish upon every farmer's table. 

Dried Apples are also much used for pies, 
puddings, &c. Good preserves may be made 
of this fruit. The pulp of the apple mixed 



172 

intimately with lard, constitutes the pomatum 
used by perfumers. 

Sweet apples especially, and even sour ones, 
are a valuable crop to cultivate for feeding 
swine or cattle. Some intelligent farmers 
consider them quite as valuable as potatoes, 
for this purpose. 

For milch cows and other cattle, and for 
swine, we believe trees bearing sweet apples 
might be made far more profitable than any 
of the cider orchards ever were ; to say noth- 
ing of the moral benefits which every farmer 
would derive, from feeding to his four-footed 
hogs, what he formerly was sometimes wont 
to employ as a means of making a two-footed 
hog of himself. 

Uses of the Juice. The juice of the apple, 
is called Cider. Cider is commonly made of 
the refuse apples of the orchard, mixed togeth- 
er. But to make the best cider, use mellow 
sweet apples only. Grind them finely in a 
clean mill, let the pomace lay in the trough of 
the mill, two or three days or even a week, if 
it can be without fermentation. This gives a 
fine color, and a peculiarly rich, saccharine fla- 
vor to the liquor, not otherwise obtainable. 

Strain the liquor, as it comes from the press, 



173 

through hair cloth or fine wire sieves, and 
put it up, into clean, tight barrels, or hogs- 
heads. These being filled full, and the bung 
left out, are placed in a cool airy cellar. As 
fast as the cider works over, replenish the bar- 
rel. When it has done working or ferment- 
ing, rack it off" carefully into another bar- 
rel. Let it have opportunity to work a sec- 
ond time, if necessary, and then rack it off 
again. It may now be put into bottles or tight 
barrels, and be kept for use. Bottled cider 
may be kept, and will improve for years, like 
wine. Fill the bottles up to their necks, cork 
them tightly, and lay them on their sides in 
layers of sand, in a cool cellar. It is an ex- 
cellent plan to seal them with wax. Cider is 
generally made, with much less labor than we 
have just described. Nine tenths of the cider 
made in New England, is probably not rack- 
ed off at all from the barrels in which it was 
first put at the mill. Once racking, we sup- 
pose, would generally answer for all ordinar^^ 
purposes. 

From sweet cider, molasses may be made, 
by evaporation ; and from this molasses, sug- 
ar may be produced. A barrel of cider, stand- 
ing out doors in summer with the bung out, 
11 



174 

will turn into vinegar. Sweet-apple cider is 
by far the best for all these uses. 

Sweet cider may be boiled away, over a 
slow fire, and afterward carefully put into 
a clean cask, where it will keep well for a 
long while. This boiled cider is very useful 
in preparing pies &c. Cider is sometimes 
greatly strengthened, by freezing it ; the bet- 
ter part of it resists the action of^ the frost, 
and may thus be separated from the inferior, 
watery particles. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE PEAR. 

*^If the long period of nearly ten months.'' 
says General Dearborn, "during which the 
numerous most admired varieties of the pear 
are successfully matured for our tables, is 
taken into consideration, with the diversity of 
graceful forms, beauty of color, agreeable 
aroma and delicious flavor of many of them, 
it may, with propriety, be placed at the head 
of the list of fruits, in ail the states where 
the orange cannot be cultivated." 

The pear is the favorite fruit of the more 
intelligent and scientific cultivators of the 
present century, and its finer qualities have 
in consequence been wonderfully developed 
within the last sixty or seventy years. But 
the passion for new varieties — amounting al- 
most to a mania with some distinguished hor- 
ticulturists — has retarded rather than accele- 



176 



rated the general dissemination of the most 
truly valuable kinds of the fruit. 

The pear — so difficult to raise here from the 
seed — when once it has become a Avell-rooted 
plant of three or four years' growth, and as 
many feet in height, is a fruit tree of easy 
cultivation, of great hardihood and produc- 
tiveness ; it is subject to few diseases, and of- 
ten attains to a great age. 

A pear tree in Illinois, on the authority of 
Rev. H. W. Beecher, produced in 1834, while 
yet not over forty years of age, a crop of owe 
Jumdred and eighty -four bushels of pears ! 
An English writer mentions a pear tree in 
Herefordshire, Eng., from wYnch. fifteen hogs- 
heads of perry were made in a single year. 
This tree covered more than half an acre of 
ground, the branches bending down and tak- 
ing root, and, in turn, producing others in the 
same way. 

M. Bosc, mentions several pear-trees in 
Europe, which are known to be nearly four 
hundred years old. (^See Downing^ s Fruits 
and Fruit Trees.) ^ 

It is somewhat remarkable that the states 
of Massachusetts and New York have each a 
patriarchal pear-tree still standing in memory 
of their early colonial governors. 



177 

The old Endicott pear-tree — which may 
be seen from the cars of the Essex Rail Road, 
as they pass through the town of Dan vers in 
this State — now numbers more than two 
hundred and twenty years. It still rears its 
head where it was planted by Gov. Endicott, 
and bravely stretches forth its vigorous arms, 
dropping the autumn fruits of its green old 
age into the bosoms of a distant posterity. 

The Stuyvesant pear-tree, planted by Gov. 
Stuy vesant of the Dutch colony of New York, 
more than two centuries ago, was very recent-' 
ly-;-if it is not now — standing, healthy and 
productive, in the upper part of what was 
then the city of Nleuw Amsterdam. 

The pear-tree is extensively and profitably 
cultivated in this country, both as a standard 
and a dwarf With high cultivation, and 
very careful and judicious management, a 
larger crop and also much more valuable spe- 
cimens of the fruit might be produced from 
an acre of dwarf pear-trees, than from one of 
standards. 



SECTION I. 



STANDARD PEAR TREES. 



Choice of a Tree. A good standard pear- 
tree for orchard planting, should be from five 
to eight feet high, and not larger, unless it has 
been previously re -set, once or twice, Avhen 
of the height of three to seven feet ; for the 
roots of the pear are not abundantly supplied 
with fibres, and large trees of it cannot there- 
fore be safely moved, the first time, without 
very great care. 

The tree should branch out at a point to suit 
one's fancy, from about four to six feet above 
the ground, according to its general size. 
The top ought to be well balanced, diverging 
outward and upward, so that the head of the 
tree may appear to promise to grow in a some- 
what conical or pyramidal form. Every 
part of the trunk and limbs should be free 
from moss and black canker. The length of 



179 

the last season's growth is a good evidence of 
the health of the tree. The trunk should be 
straight, smooth and stocky. The root ought 
to be well shaped, neither one-sided, nor very- 
destitute of fibres. As in purchasing apple- 
trees, one must not expect to have all these 
good qualities combined in every pear-tree 
he obtains from a nursery, but the purchaser 
should always endeavor to unite as many of 
them as he can, even though he should be com- 
pelled to pay a greater price for the trees. 

Soil. ''The best soil for the pear,'' says 
Downing, "is a strong loam of moderate 
depth on a dry subsoil." Kenrick recom- 
mends " rich soils and gentle declivities, not 
moist situations." Thomas advises the same 
soil as for the apple. On a cold soil with a 
clayey subsoil, the trees are stunted and short- 
lived, and the fruit is of an inferior quality. 
We should prefer a deep, rich sandy loam on 
a dryish subsoil, — such land as would pro- 
duce eighty or a hundred bushels of Indian 
corn to the acre. For setting the pear on 
damp or very dry soils, see observations in 
the chapter on The Apple. If the subsoil is 
heavy clay, it will be better to cultivate dwarf 
pears only, unless the places for the pear-root- 



180 

ed trees have been prepared, by digging large 
deep holes, and filling them with rich, sandy 
loam, having a drainage underneath. 

Distance. Pears may be set, for a term of 
years, at a distance of ten to twelve feet apart 
each way. When they are half grown, take 
out every alternate row each way, and the 
remaining rows — twenty to twenty-four feet 
apart — will be at the proper distance for a 
permanent pear orchard. An entirely safe 
mode of removing the trees of these alternate 
rows, is described under section 3d, of the 
chapter on Transplanting, The peach and 
the pear may be thus set alternately, and the 
former will be dead and gone, before the latter 
will need the space occupied by it. 

Transplanting. The pear is a more costly 
tree than the apple, and it will not bear so 
rough treatment; we therefore advise to be 
careful in transplanting it. We have already 
given sufficient directions for performing this 
work. (*S'ee the Chapter on Transplanti?ig, 
and also that on the Apple.^ 

Cultivation. Observe the same directions 
as those given in the chapter on The Apple. 
Read also what is said under the head of 
Root-pruned dwarf-pears. Wood, ashes, bone 



181 

dust, and a very small quantity of pot-ash 
dissolved in water — say two or three lbs. to 
a cart load of other manure — are fine fertilizers 
for the pear. 

Pruning. The standard pear requires less 
pruning than any other fruit tree. Whatever 
applications of the knife may seem necessary, 
may be guided by the directions given in the 
chapter on The Apple. 

Duration of Varieties^ d^c. Some theoret- 
ical writers both in Europe and in this coun- 
try, have maintained that the older varieties 
of the pear — and also of other fruit-trees — 
are deteriorating; that through the infirmi- 
ties of age many of them have become, and 
others are gradually becoming unworthy of 
cultivation. It is certainly true, that many 
of the fine old pears have in some localities 
neither the appearance nor the flavor that 
they once had. But neglected cultivation, 
diseased stocks, bad soils, unfavorable cli- 
mates, etc., have most probably done the mis- 
chief which has been lamented as the effects 
of old age. And this is the opinion of Pro- 
fessor De Candolle, one of the most distin- 
guished physiologists of the present century. 
And further, it has been ingeniously main- 



182 

tained that a hud inserted upon a thrifty slock, 
is essentially the same thing for practical 
purposes as a seed planted in the ground. 
If this be true, let us hope — at least till we 
have better evidence to the contrary — that 
our finer sorts of pears and other fruits may 
continue to be among the luxuries of rural 
life, so long as '* the earth bears a plant, or 
the sea rolls a wave." 

DESCRIPTIVE LISTS OF PEARS FOR CULTIVATION 
ON STANDARD TREES. 

The general remarks introductory to this 
part of our work and also to our Descriptive 
Lists of Apples, would be appropriate here. 

As with the apple, a similar diversity of 
opinion prevails in regard to the comparative 
merits of many varieties of this fruit; the 
different purposes for which one may wish to 
cultivate it, — for his own use, for market, for 
exhibition, &c. &c. — are even more numer- 
ous ; and there is as great a number of kinds 
from which taste, fancy or whim may make 
a selection. 

Seven hundred varieties of the pear have 
been tested, in the experimental garden of the 



183 

London Horticultural Society ; and, at the 
Twentieth Annual Exhibition of the Mass. 
Hort. Society, two hundred and sixty sorts 
were exhibited, from the Pomological Garden 
at Salem in this State. As in the lists of ap- 
ples, we shall present no such frightful cata- 
logues, to confuse and perplex those who may 
do us the honor to consult our pages. If one 
of the most extensive cultivators of the pear 
in America could not furnish Downing with 
the names of more than twenty varieties of 
unvarying and unquestionable excellence, 
surely thirty or forty varieties will be deemed 
sufficient for so small a work as ours. We 
arrange and number the pears in the lists, 
about in the order of their ripening. But as 
with other fruits, some ripen contemporane- 
ously ;— some ripen nearly all at a time, while 
others ripen gradually for several weeks. 
The soil and location also have considerable 
effect upon the time of a fruit's maturity, par- 
ticularly of the pear. 

For Tables of Quality and Size, &c., see 
the Preliminary Remarks to Part II. 



184 



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186 

We have given in our General List thirty- 
one varieties of the pear which we deem the 
most vahiable for one's own consumption or 
for the New England markets. 

If any person desires a more extended cat- 
alogue, he may select from the following: — 

Summer — Julienne, Muscadine, Passans 
du Portugal (fine,) Summer Franc Real, Wil- 
liams's Early. 

Autumn — Dun more. Napoleon (better on 
quince,) SieuUe, Thompson's, Surpasse Virga- 
lieu, Verte Longue, Bezi de la Motte, Beurre- 
de Capiaumont, Beurre d'Anjou, Doyenne 
Boussouck ; (the latter two do well on quince.) 
Also, (worthy of trial,) Swan's Orange. 

Winter— ^G\o\xi Morceau, Knight's Monarch, 
Prince's St. Germain. Winter Baking Pears. 
The Iron or Black Worcester, Catillac, Bell or 
Pound, are the best cultivated in New England. 

We now propose a select list of fourteen 
pears, which we hope may prove satisfactory 
to those whose ambition is for the truly valua- 
ble rather than for a multiplicity of varieties. 

Select List. Summer. — Madeleine, Bart- 
lett, Rostiezer. 

Autumn — St. Ghislain, BufFum, Louise 
Bonne de Jersey, Henry IV., Seckel, Flemish 
Beauty, Urbaniste, and Dix. 



187 

Winter — Vicar of Winkfield, Beitrre d'- 
Aremberg, Winter Nelis. 

Smaller Select List of seven varieties. 
Slimmer — Madeleine, Bartlett. 

Antumn — L. Bonne de Jersey, Seckel, Dis. 

Winter-^'-'YicdiX of Winkfield, Winter Nelis. 

Still Smaller List of three varieties. 
Summer — Bartlett. Autumn — Flemish Beau- 
ty. Winter — Yicar of Winkfield. 

Those wishing but a single tree, would do 
well to have it grafted With one or all of the 
last three named varieties ; in the latter case, 
putting the Vicar on the top of the tree, and 
the others lower down. 

The Bartlett has attained a greater popu- 
larity in the United States, than has been ac- 
quired by any other variety of the pear. 
This is owing to a covihination of valuable 
properties which it possesses. The hardihood 
and early productiveness of the tree, the facili- 
ty with which it adapts itself to different soils, 
its fine growth and general health, etc., to- 
gether with the large size, beautiful appear- 
ance and good flavor of the fruit, have earned 
it a reputation among its brethren, the right 
to which several rivals are already beginning 
to contest. 



'^^ 



SECTION II. 



DWARF PEARS. 



The pear may be advantageously cultivated 
as a dwarf. Indeed, this is almost the only 
mode in which the fruit is raised for the mar- 
kets of Paris. And in this country, qui?ice- 
bottomed pear trees are coming into extensive 
favor with those who have had experience in 
managing them. Root-jyruned dwarfs are 
less cultivated, but chiefly, we suppose, be- 
cause the manual operation and effects of root- 
pruning are as yet but very little known in 
this country. 

Amateur cultivators may amuse themselves 
in rendering the pear still more diminutive, 
by working it upon the common white thorn, 
or the mountain ash. The point of grafting 
should be just under the surface of the ground. 
By commencing early with the root-pruning 
process already described, these little dwarfs, 



189 

particularly those on the thorn, may be kept 
down to a size scarcely above that of a goose- 
berry bush, and when in fruit they are very 
pretty. They are, however, shorter lived 
than the dwarf of a larger size. In China, 
the different species even of the largest grow- 
ing forest trees, are dwarfed to a similar di- 
rainuti\reness, by a modification of Layering 
already described. These Chinese dwarfs, 
once formed, are said to live and bear fruit for 
a great number of years. 

Root Primed Dwarf Pears. The mode of 
dwarfing the pear by root-pruning^ has been 
very successful in England ; and, from some 
little experience of our own, we are strongly 
inclined to believe that it will prove equally 
adapted to our New England soil and climate. 
Trees of one to three inches in diameter, 
branching low, and of a stocky habit, are the 
best subjects to operate upon. The process of 
forming them is simple, thus : 

Dig a circular ditch around the tree, about 
one foot wide and two feet deep. The ditch 
should be somewhere about as many feet dis- 
tant from the tree, as the latter is inches in 
diameter; for rather large trees the di tance 
should be less than in this proportion ; but the 
12 



190 

judgment of a skillful operator will be a suffi- 
ciently safe guide in all cases. In digging 
the ditch, the roots of the tree should all be 
cut off" and pared smoothly even with the 
inner side of the ditch ; and the outer frag- 
ments of the roots should be removed as 
cleanly from the surrounding ground as it 
may be convenient. This done, fill the ditch 
with generous, rich soil intermingled with the 
specific fertilizer for the pear (^Seepage 100.) 
Head in the top of the tree judiciously, cut- 
ting off from one-fourth to three-fourths of 
the growth upon the last year's scions. It is 
well, though not strictly necessary, to cover 
these little wounds with the gum-shellac com- 
position. This work may be done any time 
from the first of November to the middle of 
April, except when the ground is wet, freezing, 
or frozen. Root-pruned dwarfs will need this 
treatment as often as once in three years, and 
frequently, under high cultivation, they will 
require it once in two years, or even annually. 
A close observation of the effects of the prun- 
ing will be the best guide as to the necessity 
of repeating it. 

Almost any large fruit tree, other than the 
pear, which does not grow well, or appears 



191 

unthrifty, may be greatly benefited by a sin- 
gle application of the treatment just above 
described. 

All varieties probably both of the pear and 
the apple, may be dwarfed in this manner ; 
and, doubtless, if for no other purpose, it is 
the best mode in which to cultivate those 
large-sized fruits which the wind so often 
strips prematurely off of large trees. Such 
trees also come early into a bearing state. 

Root-pruned dwarfs require the same soil 
as that for the full-sized trees of the same 
species. Their distance apart need not ex- 
ceed from eight to twelve feet. 

In heading-in these as all other trees, al- 
ways cut — as we have before advised — ^just 
above a wood-bud on the outer side of the twig 
or limb, or on the side of it facing the direc- 
tion in which it is desirable that the twig or 
limb should extend its growth. By observing 
this simple direction, a pruning of which 
dwarfing is the main object, may also be 
made subservient to a great improvement in 
the form and general appearance of the tree to 
which it is applied. 

Q uince bottomed Dwarf Pears. Grafting 
upon the quince stock is a deservedly popular 



192 

mode of cultivating the pear, in fruit-gardens 
and other highly and carefully cultivated 
grounds. Nearly all the class of Beurre^ or 
melting pears, succeed in this way,* and 
many of them are greatly superior to what 
they usually are when raised upon the pear- 
rooted standard. The trees grow to the 
height of ten or twelve feet, and have a pecu- 
liar, stocky appearance. They commence 
bearing in three or four years from the graft- 
ing. In ten or fifteen years they come to ma- 
turity, bearing from a peck to a bushel of 
fruit. We have seen a quince-bottomed 
dwarf-pear, in Col. Wilder's grounds, some 
fifteen feet high, that has several years borne 
about a barrel oi Duchesse d^ Angouleme pears, 
— fruit which sells readily in Boston at twelve 
and a half cents apiece. 

duince-bottomed pear trees require a deep, 
rich soil, such as is suitable for the quince. 
They may be set temporarily four or five feet 
apart. In the course of some years, if neces- 
sary, take out every other row, one or both 

* Almost,.if not quite every other variety of the pear may be 
cultivated in this way, by what is called double-working , that is, 
work the Martin Sec, Beurre d'Amalis, L. B. de Jersey, or other 
variety, on the quince, and then, in another year or two, re- work 
this graft, with the kind that you desire to grow as a dwarf. 



193 

ways, and the remaining trees may stand 
during their life-time, at from eight to ten feet 
apart. An occasional root-pruning — once in 
three or four years — has been f<5und very ben- 
eficial to the quince-bottomed pear. 

In purchasing quince-bottomed dwarf- 
pears, examine the quince part of the tree to 
ascertain whether it has been injured by bor- 
ers. Select good stocky, low-branching, well- 
rooted trees. In setting out, dig holes sufficient- 
ly deep for the purpose, and set the whole of 
the quince part entirely under ground, without 
any regard to the height above the roots at 
which the grafting was performed.. Fill up 
the hole and among the roots with rich soil, 
and aim to have the tree stand, when the 
work is done, so that the point of union be- 
tween the quince and pear shall be about one 
inch below the surface of the ground, — just 
low enough to hide the quince from the borer, 
and not so low as to allow the pear to strike 
roots of its own. It would not answer to 
plant high grafted dwarfs, so deeply, were it 
not that the quince has an almost peculiar 
power of emitting thrifty roots from any part 
of its trunk or limbs when buried in the earth. 
We have set many dwarfs in this way, and 
have never lost one. 



194 

The quince-rooted pear enjoys a rich, high- 
ly cultivated soil, and is much less able to 
endure rough treatment or neglect, than his 
stronger- footed brother of the pear-root. Its 
appropriate place is the garden, where, prop- 
erly treated, it is, at once, one of the most or- 
namental and profitable tenants that can dwell 
there. Quince-bottomed pears should be 
headed-in, more or less severely every year. 

Dwarf pear-trees whether on quince or 
pear, which are not to be trained to a wall or 
trellis, ought to be pruned to a' pyramidal or 
conical form. In order to this, take a tree of 
one year's growth upon the graft. Shorten 
back the leading shoot, nearly or quite one 
half its length. This will develope the desir- 
able side branches ; to encourage the growth 
of which still more, it is well to shorten back 
the leading shoot, about the first of July. 
This will, about the middle of the growth of 
next spring, cause to start out another tier of 
branches, a foot above the last. The next 
summer in July the leader is again cut back 
to within about a foot of the last tier, which 
will cause the growth of a third set, and this 
must be repeated every year, till the tree is 
from six to ten or more feet high, as the taste 



195 

of the cultivator may dictate. In the mean 
time, the side shoots should be pruned into 
the desired conical form, each spring, or, what 
is considered by some preferable, they should 
be kei^t shortened-in, by pinching off their 
ends in the summer. This is Downing's 
plan, described almost in his own words. 
We have found a simpler mode of operating 
to answer every purpose — that is, to shorten- 
in the leader and side shoots, in the spring on- 
ly, of each year. We should continue this 
process, as with the peach, every year so long 
as the tree continued to make scions, cutting 
off from one-fourth to three-fourths of the 
length of each scion every year, — always 
having an eye to improve, and as far as pos- 
sible to render conical the form of the tree. 
To this end we should as we have said be- 
fore always cut just above a wood-bud, on the 
outer side of a limb or twig — i. e., the side 
farthest from the central parts of the tree. 

Prom two to four feet is a sufficient length 
for the lowest tier of branches ; the next tier 
should be four to eight inches shorter, and so 
on. Where the dwarf has not been pruned 
for two or three years from the graft, the first 
keading-in must be done more severely, in 



196 

order to get the tree into shape. {See pages 
76 to 83.) 

A somewhat different, but equally severe 
pruning is necessary for the dwarf-pear, when 
trained upon a wall or espalier rail. In all 
pruning, a skillful operator will modify the 
mode to suit the particular cas^. in hand. 
Whatever may be the shape given to the tree, 
all dwarf-pears^ (quince-bottomed or root^ 
pruned,) reqmre the annual heading-in in 
some form or other ^ and those upon pear- 
roots, an occasional, if not annual root-prun- 
ing also. 

We may add, by way of caution, that the 
pear on quince, is not a suitable tree for one 
who has neither leisure nor taste to attend to 
its cultivation. It is a very artificial plant, 
and left entirely to nature's nursing, it will 
soon die, just as a Parisian dandy would perish, 
were he suddenly transferred to the. haunts 
and habits of a western savage. Quince-bot- 
tomed dwarf- pears, if they appear to be low 
in the ground after standing some years, ought 
to be staked and tied, as they are sometimes 
liable to be blown over. 

For Tables of Size^ Quality ^c.^ See 
pages 143 and 144. 



19' 



WARF'PEARS 

one pear-shaped ; obov. obo 
em in small end ; turb. tur- 
, as Deaiborn's seedling; r, 

e; V, very; J, juicy; B, 
t. astringent ; S, sometimes 3 


Si 

K 


i 

c 

T3 

«-< 
C6 

V 


has roundish leaves 
V . P. and popular 
V. P. 
V- P. 'In cold soils, it is! 

particular!}' fine on quince 

stocks.' — Downing. 
V. P. B. and fine 
Flavor rivals that of the 

Seckel 
V. P. S. aslringent, 
V. P. no better on quince 
Strongly resembles No. 8 
V. P. and fine, grows better 


than any other p'r on q'nce 
Vigorous grower on quince 
V. P. and B. V. valuable 
Same as on pear 
Better than on pear 
Tiee glows strong, is V. P. 


INCE-ROOTED D 

EVIATIONS. 

Form — pyr. pyriform, or 
vate, or egg-shaped, with s 
en binale, or shaped like a top 
eb. roundish ; leg. regular. 

Remarks. — P. productiv 
g, beautiful ; But. buiteiy ; Aa 
us- cr. cracks. 


s 




> 

c 
a 



irreg. pyr. 
irreg. obov. 
reg. obov. 

obov. 
pyr. 


long turb. 
reg. obov. ' 

obov. 
long pyr 


oblong obov. 

obov. pyr. 

long pyr. 

oboVt 

obtuse oval. 


n 



J ' 





y. 

g. y. rus. 
golden y. 

y. vus. r. 
y. rus. 


3. 


S3>.=r'^ 

. ^3-d(i 
bo **• 


DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF QLl 

ABBR 
Size.— Marge; 9, medium-size; 3, small. 
auALiTY— g, good ; V. g. very good; b, best. 
Use.- T,table; K, kitchen ; T K. table and kitchi 
BKAsoN.— Jan. January; Feb. February; Jan. F 

both months. 
Color.— p, pale; y, yellow; b, brown ;d, dark; 

green; r, red (meaning on the sunny side); rua. r 

set ; str. striped. 




OfJ 

< 


cc 

bb 

3 
< 


Aug. Sept. 
Sept. 
Sept. 

Sept. Oct. 
Sept. Oct. 


Sept. Oct. 
Oct. 
Oct. 
Oct. 


Oct. Nov. 
Oct. Dec. 
Nov. Dec. 
Dec. Jan. 
Dec. Jan. 


•asa 


c-i 


^HH hcH 


EhHEhEh 


EhE^^HEh 


•TTTnb 


ja 


b'o bJD . 00 . 


. . . eb 


. . bb . . 


•azis 1 


CM 


— 1—1 1—1 -^ r-t 


CiGiOl^ 


^-i -<Oi-i 


H 
< 


"5 



a 
a 

<u 

s 
s 

3 

a/ 


Bartlett, 

Beurre d'Amalis, . . 

Flemish Beauty, . . 
Paradise d'Antomne . 


Beurre de Capiaumont, 
St. Michael, ... 1 
Gray Doyenne, . . . 
Louise Bonne de Jersey, 


Duchesse d'Angouleme, 
Beurre Diel, .... 
Vicar of Winkfleld, . 
Beurre d'Aremberg, . 
Glout Morceau, . . . 


•CM 1 


<-i 


cinvi< to 


l~- QO 0> 





198 

Our list of Dwarf pears might easily be 
extended— almost to any limits, indeed, if we 
were to include those which require Double- 
working. — (See the note above.) Without 
this mode of double grafting, however, we 
might add to our list, Summer^ — Madeleine, 
Jargonelle, Autumn^ — Napoleon, Seckel (bet- 
ter double- worked.) Doyenne Boussouck, 
Beurre d'Anjou, SieuUe, Urbaniste, and prob- 
ably the Dix, as this makes a good growth 
here directly on the quince. Swan's Orange 
is well worthy of trial on quince, in our 
climate. To those oi Winter we might annex, 
Van Mons Leon Le Clerc, Catillac (for cook- 
ing;) and for warm, sheltered situations, with 
some hesitation, we venture to subjoin Chau- 
montelle. Passe Col mar and Brown Beurre. 

Small Select List of quince- rooted Dicarf 
"pears. Summer — Summer Franc Real, Bart- 
lett. Autumn — Golden Beurre of Bilboa, 
Flemish Beauty, St. Michael, Louise Bonne 
de Jersey, Duchesse d' Angouleme, Beurre 
Diel. Winter — Glout Morceau. 

Still Smaller List — We recommend, (or 
rather humbly submit,) Summer — Bartlett, 
Autumn — St. Michael, L. B. de Jersey, 
Beurre Diel. Winter — Glout Morceau. 



199 

For a single dwarf tree, we know no better 
grower than the fine •flavored Louise Bonne 
de Jersey, and no better fruit than the Saint 
Michael, or, as otherwise called, the White 
Doyenne. Either of these ought to be satis- 
factory to any reasonable man. Should one 
desire both upon a single tree, work the St. M. 
upon the top of the L. B. de Jersey. 



SECTION III. 

INSECTS, DISEASES. AND REMEDIES. 

There are but two insects that we have 
known to injure pear trees in New England, 
although Downing affirms that the same in- 
sects that infest the apple do sometimes attack 
the pear also. 

1st. The fShfff-ioorm. This insect {Sela?!- 
firia Cerasi of Harris.) is a kind of olive- 
colored naked snail, about a quarter of an inch 
long. It appears on the upper sides of the 
leaves, from June to August, and frequently 
does serious injury to young trees, by preying 
upon the juices of their leaves. An excellent 
way to kill these vermin is to water the * 
leaves with the Avhale-oil soap liquid, de- 
scribed on page 109. Ashes or quicklime 
sprinkled upon them, will also destroy them. 

2d.* The Scolytus Pyri. This insect is 
supposed to cause what is called the Fire- 



201 

blight In the midst of the luxuriant growth 
of summer, a limb affected by this disease 
suddenly turns brown and dies. If the disor- 
der is not arrested the entire tree is usually 
destroyed by it. There is no half-way reme- 
dy ; the malady extends downward from the 
point of its external appearance, and it is 
necessary to cut off the affected limb imme- 
diately, at least a foot below all symptoms of 
the disease. 

Winter Blighty called by Downing, Frozen 
sap Blight. This disorder manifests itself by 
the extremities of the limbs shrivelling, turn- 
ing black and dying. Downing attributes the 
cause of this to the action of frost in winter ; 
others think it is owing to the strong penetra- 
ting rays of the sun in summer. Trees that 
grow luxuriantly in moist soils in the nursery, 
are the most subject to it. We have rarely 
seen a large tree in this vicinity affected with 
the disorder, although we understand, that it 
is almost confined to large trees in some sec- 
tions of the country. There probably may 
not be less than three sources of the pear 
blight ; an insect causing the Insect-Blight ; 
the changes of winter weather ^ causing the 
Winter-Blight; i\iQ rays of the 5M71 causing 
what might be called Sun-Blight. 



202 

As a preventive of any of these forms of 
the disease, plant out the trees, in dryish, rich 
soil, and occasionally root-prune them. As a 
remedy, cut off seasonably the affected parts 
down to the perfectly healthy, sound wood. 

Downing says of this malady, that it has, 
at different times, been " the terror and the 
despair of pear growers." The disease is 
irregular both in the time and the manner of 
its attacks. It sometimes destroys only a 
single limb ; at other times it, in the course of 
a few days, causes the death of an entire tree. 
In some sections of the country it is scarcely 
known ; in others its ravages have been such 
as to greatly discourage the cultivation of the 
fruit. The disorder has, as yet, done com- 
paratively little mischief in the New England 
States. 



SECTION IV. 



GATHERING AND RIPENING THE PEAR, AND USES 



OF THE FRUIT. 



All our winter pears (and apples also,) are, 
of necessity, ripened in the house. Nearly all 
summer pears and a very large proportion of 
the autumn varieties, are greatly improved 
by ripening them in the house also. Nor is 
this peculiar to the pear. Wheat and some 
other grains, gathered at a particular time 
just before maturity, will be more bulky, 
heavier and better than when left to get dead 
ripe, as it is called, in the field. We cannot 
in this little work go into an investigation of 
the theory of this process. It is enough to 
assert the unquestionable fact. 

Generally, then, we advise to take summer 
and early autumn pears from the trees just 
when some of the earlier full-grown, speci- 
mens begin to ripen. Gather them carefully 
by hand in a dry day, spread then on the 



204 

shelves of your fridt room, or upon the floor 
of a cool diy chamber. Here they will ripen 
by degrees, and without further care. 

Late autumn and winter pears should also 
be gathered very carefully by hand, in dry 
weather. Put them away very carefully — 
so as not to bruise or indent them in the least — 
in tight clean, wooden boxes, buckets or bar- 
rels ;^ and keep them in a cool, dry, airy 
room or cellar, of which the temperature shall 
be from about 38® to 45® Fahr. Examine 
them occasionally and if they are sweating, 
take them out carefully, dry them upon the 
floor and then repack them as before. 

About ten days before their usual time of 
maturity, bring them into a room of which 
the temperature is from 60® to 70.® Whoev- 
er follows the above directions for the first 
time, will be agreeably surprised at the result 
of his experiment. The Beurre d' Arem- 
berg and probably some others may be suc- 
cessfully managed in the same way as winter 
apples. 

Many pears early and late are lost to their 



* Some advise to wrap each pear in soft paper before puttiag 
it into the boxes, &c. 



205 

cultivators from an i^iiorance of the proper 
modes of ripenitig them. In Europe, this 
branch of fruit-culture is considered almost a 
science of itself. Never, therefore, throw 
away a specimen, or re-graft a tree of a pear 
of doubtful character, until all the modes of 
ripening the fruit have first been tried for at 
least tioo successive years. 

The Uses of the Pear are not dissimilar to 
those of the apple. It is, however, much 
more highly esteemed for the dessert, as the 
market value of the fruit sufficiently evinces. 
One dollar per dozen for the Duchesse d* An- 
gouleme pear is not an uncommon price : and 
specimens of the Beiirre Diet have been re- 
tailed at twenty-five cents apiece, solely too 
for the gratification, not of the eye, but of the 
palate of the purchaser. For preserving, 
baking, stewing, marmalades, and for drying, 
it is extensively in use, wherever it is known. 
Generally, melting or Beurre pears are prefer- 
able for the dessert, and those with firm, crisp 
breaking flesh, for the kitchen. 

The fermented juice of the pear is called 

Perry. The process of preparing this liquor 

is precisely similar to that of making cider. 

As a beverage most people prefer it to the juice 

13 



206 



of the apple. In former years considerable 
quantities of perry were manufactured in the 
vicinity of Portsmouth, N. H. and elsewhere 
in the eastern States. Of this article an old 
English writer affirms, ''Wine made of the 
juice of the Pear, being taken in small quan- 
tities, comforteth and warmeth the stomack, 
and causeth good digestion." 



CHAPTEE III. 



THE PEACH, AND THE NECTARINE. 



SECTION I. 



CULTIVATION, &C. 



Choice of a tree. — The best age at which 
to plant out the peach in an orchard, is one 
year from the bnd atid two years from the 
seed. Nothing is gained by purchasing trees 
older than this, unless they have been trans- 
planted once or twice before. Select a stocky, 
rather low branching, vigorous looking tree, 
free from gummy exudations in every part. 
This gummy matter will appear, if anywhere, 
on the roots, about the collar, on the sides and 
in the forks of the limbs. The insects, doing 
this mischief, live but a single year and are 
easily destroyed. Trees otherwise satisfactO' 
ry ought not, therefore, to be rejected on this 



208 

account solely, unless they have suffered quite 
severely from the ravages of the worm. How- 
ever, it is always preferable to obtain trees 
entirely exempt from this injury. 

Dxoarfs and Standards. The peach is 
dwarfed, by working it upon a plum-stock. 
For a very cold climate these dwarfs are con- 
sidered more hardy than standards. They 
are also well adapted to cold clayey soils, 
which are unfit for the peach root. With 
these exceptions, dwarf peach-trees are not 
valuable to cultivate, unless it may be as 
curiosities. 

Soil. "The very best soil for the peach, '^ 
says Downing, '• is a rich, deep sandy loam ; 
next to this, a strong nlellow loam." Thomas 
recommends " a light soil ;" Kenrick, " a rich, 
sandy loam." An extremely rich soil, in our 
cold climate, sometimes imparts too rank a 
growth to the tree, thereby rendering it rather 
too tender to brave the severity of the winter. 

Distance. Twelve or fourteen feet apart is 
a sufficient distance for the trees of a New 
England orchard. The trees may be set in 
rows extending north and south, the rows be- 
ing twelve to sixteen feet apart, and the trees 
eight to ten feet apart in the rows. This will 



209 

often be found a convenient arrangement 
where the whole ground is kept under cul- 
tivation. 

Transplanting. We liave succeeded as 
well, transplanting the peach in the autumn, 
as in the spring. Doing the work in autumn, 
however, we have been very particular to 
place a good-sized conical mound of soil 
around the tree, as recommended in section 
2d. of the Chapter on transpkuiting. Culti- 
vators generally, in the northern states, advise 
to transplant the peach, in the spring ; and 
some think they meet with better success, 
moving the tree, only two or three days before 
its blossoms begin to open. Little peach trees, 
budded the previous autumn, may be quite 
successfully transplanted, in the spring, with- 
out injury to the bud. But generally, it is 
better to wait till the bud has had one year's 
growth. 

Cultivation. The rules are nearly the same 
as for the apple and pear. What is called 
very high cultivation, as we have remarked, 
is hardly safe in our climate. We may, how- 
ever, remark that high cultivation is not an 
offence, often committed by our farmers against 
the peach, or any other fruit tree. The crim- 



210 

inality extends mostly in an opposite direc- 
tion — neglected cultivation. Doubtless, this 
sin of omission lieth even unto the doors of 
ninety-nine in a hundred of the fruit cultiva- 
tors, of this section of the country. 

The peach — perhaps better worked on plum 
stocks, for this purpose — will succeed even in 
a very cold climate, when trained upon a 
south wall, and slightly protected by pine 
boughs through the winter and, more especial- 
ly, through the changeable weather of early 
spring. For a mode of training the peach, in 
vei^y rigorous climates, see the Chapter on 
Training. 

Pruning. The peach needs little pruning 
except the shorteniiig-in system, recommend- 
ed in Sec. 1. of Chap. V. Part 1. Any time 
from late autumn until the latter part of April, 
cut off with no great carefulness, from one- 
fourth to three-fourths of the last year's growth, 
all over the tree. The very best time perhaps 
to do this, is in the month of March. This 
shortening-in pruning should be done every 
year, as long as the tree lives, commencing 
on the first year's growth of the bud. The 
operation is performed much more rapidly 
than one would suppose. The appearance, 



211 

the health, and the productiveness of the 
peach, the nectarine and the apricot, are all 
greatly improved by this treatment. 

Insects. The only insect that seriously in- 
jures the peach-tree in this section of the 
country, is the Peach-worm, (^Egeria exitio- 
sa.) This insect deposits its eggs in the 
trunk of the tree, at the surface of the ground 
and in the forks of the limbs, &c. The eg^ 
hatches and becomes a worm of one-fourth to 
three-fourths of an inch in length. This 
worm devours the inner bark and sap-wood 
of the tree, at and about the points where the 
eggs are laid. Its presence may be known by 
the gum which exudes from the bark in con- 
sequence. When the worm gets into the 
forks of a tree, it causes the splitting of the 
tree at those points ; and unless its progress 
is arrested, it will sometimes do very serious 
damage. 

The preventive against this insect is very 
simple. It is only necessary to put half 
a peck of ashes or air-slacked lime, close 
around the collar of the tree, (that is at the 
surface of the ground, )in the month of May, 
and remove it again in October. For other 
preventives and the modes of getting rid of 



212 

this insect, see directions for destroying the 
Borer, in Section 3d of the Chapter on The 
Apj)le. 

The Yellows. This destructive disease 
has proved fatal to whole orchards, in some 
sections of the country. Its symptoms are, — 
1st, a growth of slefider, sickly, wiry shoots, 
with small yellowish leaves ; 2d, the prema- 
ture ripening of the fruit, two or three weeks 
earlier than its proper season. This disorder 
seems most disposed to attack rapid growing 
varieties. It is propagated by planting the 
stones of peaches grown upon affected trees, 
by budding, and also by the pruning knife 
communicating the infectious sap from one 
tree to another. It is universally believed to 
be a contagious disorder, and whoever has a 
tree decidely affected with it, ought to cut 
down and burn the tree at once. There is 7io 
other sure remedy yet known. Downing 
thinks that those who have trees healthy in 
this respect, may keep them so by the shorten- 
ing-in system, already strongly recommended 
for its other beneficial effects. 

Identifying Varieties. Different varieties of 
this fruit are less easily identified by their 
form and color, than those of the apple and 



213 

pear. Collateral aid to this is derived from 
the size and color of the blossoms, and from 
certain marks on the leaves. There are three 
classes of peaches in reference to these leaf 
Tnarks. 

Class 1. Those whose leaves are deeply 
and doubly serrated, (cut like saw-teeth,) 
having no gla?ids.^ 

Class 2. Those whose leaves are crenate 
or serrulate, (that is having smaller rounded 
teeth,) with globose (or round) glands. 

Class 3. These have crenate or serrulate 
leaves like class 2d, with reniform (kidney- 
shaped, or longish) glands. 

These marks upon the leaves of the peach 
are invariable. The use of these to the 
cultivator is obvious; for example, if any one 
should buy a tree, say for the Early Craiv- 
ford variety, and its leaves either should have 
no glands at all, or have those which are reni- 
form, it would be certain that the the tree was 
not what it was purchased for ; because the 
Early Crawford always has globose glands. 



* The glands are of the size of a pins' head or a little larger. 
They are easily discoverable upon that part of the stem of the 
leaf where it begins to widen out into the leaf, and just beyond 
that point, on the edges of the leaf. * 



214 

Gathering the fruit. Unlike the pear, tlie 
peach is always best, ripened upon the tree. 
Gather and keep it (if necessary to keep it,) 
in a cool dry airy room until wanted. 

Uses of the Fruit. The peach is one of 
the most delicious of dessert fruits. In some 
sections of the country, it is preserved by dry- 
ing. In the south, it has been extensively 
cultivated for the purpose of distiUing its juice 
into brand V. 



SECTION If. 

DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF PEACHES. 

Fine varieties of the peach are often pro- 
duced from the seed. Hundreds have been 
thus originated and described by nurserymen 
and others within the last few years. 

The following Usts comprise those which we 
beUeve to be the best adapted to the wants of 
those generally who cultivate this fruit, either 
for their own tables or for the market. The 
reputation of these peaches is so well estab- 
lished, that one may safely engage in their 
cultivation upon as large or as small a scale 
as he may desire. 

For Tables of Quality^ Size, ^*c. ^*c., See 
the Prelimi?iary Remarks to Part II. 



216 



o 
< 

o 



I— I 

o 
r/2 





1 




5S 


peach 
idsome 


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217 

Our list of peaches might easily be extend- 
ed to fifty or more varieties. Were we to add 
to the above described catalogue, we should 
select from among the following : 

Last of Summer — Early Anne, Dixie's Eu- 
reka, Lemon Rareripe, <fec. Em ly Autumn — 
Cheney's Perfection, ("FT. Co. Seedling.) 
Bergen's Yellow, Red Rareripe, Walter's 
Early, Early Newington, Large Yellow Me- 
locton, Jaques {very large,) Brevoort, Belle- 
garde, Morris's Red, (fcc. Mid Autumn — 
President, Prince's Red Rareripe, Kenrick's 
Heath, Late White, &c. — also, for prese?^vi?ig, 
the Blood Clingstone, and (in warm situations) 
the Lemon Clingstone. 

All the above described peaches, except the 
latter two, are freestone varieties, clingstone 
peaches not being valuable in so cold a climate 
as ours. 

Select List. Last of Summer — Early 
Sweet Water, Cooledge's Favorite, George 
Fourth. Early Autumn — Yellow Rareripe, 
Crawford's Early, Old Mixon Freestone, Yel- 
low Red Rareripe, Mid Autumn — Crawford's 
Late. 

Smaller Select List. Cooledge*s Favor- 



218 

ite, George Fourth, Crawford's Early, Craw- 
ford's Late. 

For a single tree, none is better than George 
Fourth, or Crawford's Early. 

THE NECTARINE. 

The nectarine, or smooth peach, is only a 
smooth-skinned accidental sub-species or va- 
riety of the peach, requiring precisely the 
same cultivation and management in every 
respect. The fruit of nectarine trees like that 
of the apricot is greatly injured by the Ciir- 
cuUo. For preventives, (fee. of this insect, see 
the chapters on The Ap?^icot and The Plum. 

The nectarine is not a valuable fruit for 
general cultivation, and accordingly we recom- 
mend only three varieties of it, all freestones, 
namely, Early Violet, Elruge, and Boston. 
The latter of these is altogether the best, — 
the tree being hardy and productive, and the 
fruit very beautiful and excellent. 



CHAPTEE IV. 



THE CHERRY. 

Choice of a tree. The cherry being among 
the handsomest of all fruit trees, one may re- 
quire the tree which a nurseryman shall offer 
him, to have a straight trunk and a fine sym- 
metrical top. The root also should be well 
proportioned and sufRcientl}^ supplied with 
fibres. 

Dwarf and Standards. The cherry is but 
very little cultivated in this country as a 
dwarf. The Mahaleb stock, on which the 
dwarfs are worked, or the little bush trees 
themselves, may be had of the importers. 

Standard cherries are generally worked upon 
those excellent stocks, the Black Mazzard seed- 
lings. 

Soil. Downing recommends a sandy or 
gravelly loam. The trees will bear quite a 
dry situation. A mixture of one bushel of 



220 

leached ashes to two or three of peat is an 
excellent mannre for the cherry. 

Distance. The distance for cherries, in an 
orchard, is abont the same as that for pear- 
trees, say eighteen to twenty-five feet. Some 
varieties may be set nearer together than 
others. 

Transplanting. Two years from the bud 
is a sufficiently large size for setting in the 
orchard. Like those of the pear, large cher- 
ry-trees are not easily moved, unless they haVe 
been previously re-set, once or twice since 
they were in the nursery. See directions al- 
ready given, in the Chapter on Transplant- 
ing. 

Cultivation. Follow the directions in the 
chapters on The Apple and The Pear. 

Pruning. The cherry needs but very lit- 
tle pruning, less than almost any other fruit- 
tree. The directions, in the Chapter on The 
Apple^ may be followed so far as it may seem 
necessary to prune at all. 

Insects., Diseases, Remedies. The cherry 
in our climate, is happily exempt from dis- 
eases and the depredations of insects. 

Birds maybe kept from the fruit by a cov- 



221 

ering of netting, or by various modes of 
frightening them. 

Gathering the Fruit. Always if practica- 
ble gather the cherry when it is not wet and 
with the stems attached. If the fruit is put 
into an ice-box and cooled before being brought 
to the table, it will be greatly improved. 

Uses of the Fruit. The Cherry is chiefly 
used for the dessert ; it is employed also in 
making tarts, &c. 

In some parts of Europe both the tree and 
its fruit have a use which, by a pardonable 
digression, we may mention here. 

From Brunn to Olmutz, says Loudon, the 
road lies through an avenue of cherry trees 
for sixty miles in length. Beneath the friend- 
ly shade of these, the poor pedestrian finds 
rest and refreshment, on his weary journey. 
Whenever the proprietor of the lands through 
which the avenue passes, desires to reserve 
the cherries on a particular tree, he has only 
to let his wishes be known, by tying a wisp 
of straw around the tree. This simple appro- 
priating mark afl^ords a protection to the fruit 
which an American^ whose only security is a 
faithful watch-dog or strong picket fence, 
ought hardly to be blamed for envying. 
14 



22a ' 

Downing divides cherry-trees into four 
classes, according to their forms of growth 
and the characteristics of their fruits. 

Class 1. Heart Che7Ties. These trees 
grow vigorous, tall and upright. The fruit is 
heart-shaped, sweet, and tender-fleshed. The 
Common Mazzard and the Black Heart are 
types of this class. 

Class 2. Bigarreau Cherries. — The tree& 
and fruit are the same as in class 1st, except 
that the fruit is hard-fleshed and breaking, in- 
stead of soft. The Yellow Spanish is a type 
of this class. 

Class 3. Duke Cherries. The trees grow 
upright when young and finally form round 
heads, something Like an apple tree. The 
fruit is round, tender, juicy and subacid. 
The May Duke is the type of this class. > 

Class 4. Morello Cherries. The trees of ' 
this class, have a somewhat low bushy 
spreading growth, with long wiry branches. 
The fruit is the same as in class 3d, except 
that it is smaller and more acid. The Kentish 
or pie cherry is a type of this class. ^i^ 

\ 



223 



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Season.— Aug. August 3 &c. ; e. early ; m. middle: 
1. late. 

Color — p. pale ; y, yellow; r, red ; d. deep; b. biacU ; 
am. amber; r, c. red cheek. 

Remarks.— P. productive; V, very ; B, beautiful; 
S, sometimes ; ex. excellent. 


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handsome. Fruit ripens gradually 
Tree V. P. and hardy, fruit V. B. & ex. 
Tree V. P. fruit V. large, B. and ex. 
Tree strong and hardy with large leaves 
One of the best, hardy tree 
P. delicate and fine fruit 
V. P. cTcn when young, fine for market 
Tree strong and P. fruit V. large 
V. P. B. fruit 

Tree hardy, fruit B. and ex. 
Tree hardy and V. P. and fruit ex. 
Tree vigorous, but resembles Morello 

class, fine late fruit 


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duAHTY.— g, good ; v. g. very good ; b, best. 

Class.— h, heart cherries, tender fleshed; b. bigar- 
reau do. hard fleshed ; d. dukes ; m' morelloes. 

Stalk.— 1. long stem ; m. medium length ; s. short 
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May Duke, .... 

Elton, ; 

Black Tartarean, . . 
Black Eagle, . : . : 
Black Heart, .... 
Belle de Choisy, . . ; 
Yellow Spanish, . . . 
Napoleon Bigarreau, . 
American Amber, . . 

Downton, 

Downer's Late, . . . 
Late Duke, ... 4 




■OM 


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224 

We have deescribed only fourteen varieties 
of the cherry. Those who wish to extend 
the list can add Knight's Early Black, Flesh- 
colored Bigarreau, Davenport's Early, Holland 
Bigarreau, Sparhawk's Honey, Tradescant's 
Black, Kentish, Black Morello {for preserves^') 
&c, &c. 

Select List of six hardy, productive, and 
fine cherries for the interior of New England ; 
--Early White Heart, May Duke, Black 
Tartarean, Black Eagle, Black Heart, Down- 
er's Late. 

Small, Select List of three Varieties. 
We say, without much hesitancy. Early 
White Heart, (or for a very cold locality, 
May Duke,) Black Eagle, Downer's Late. 

The Black Eagle is as valuable, for a sin- 
gle tree, as any with which we are acquainted. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE QUINCE. 



Soil. The Quince requires a deep, rich 
soilj not necessarily moist. Downing says 
*' a rich mellow, deep soil even if quite dry," 
suits it admirably. This tree, however, will 
hear a moister soil than most other fruit trees. 

Distance. Quince trees should be set about 
eight or ten feet apart. 

Cultivaiioji, This is the same as for the 
apple and pear. 

Insects. The Quince-borer has the same 
habits as that of the apple ; and yields to the 
same preventives and destructives. 

Blight. When a blight appears on the 
quince similar to the Pear Blighty employ 
the preventives and remedies as for the pear. 
See Chapter on Tim Pear. 

Uses. The Quince is a Kitchen fruit, used 
for preserving, sauces, &c. 

Varieties. — There are two varieties gene- 



226 

rally cultivated in this country, — the Orange 
and the Pear. The latter is the later of the 
two, and is perhaps less valuable than the 
the other. 

Another variety, the Portugal Quince, is of 
rather better quality than either of the oth- 
ers ; but it is so shy of bearing that it is little 
cultivated, excepting by some as a stock on 
which to graft the pear. Its larger and strong- 
er growth render it well adapted to this use. 

Propagation. The quince bush may easi- 
ly be raised from the seed, (See page 58.) But 
seedling quinces, like those of the apple, 
etc., manifest, though in a less degree, 
that same disposition to degenerate which 
seems inherent in all our finer cultivated 
fruits. Unless, therefore, one is willing 
to graft his seedling quinces, it will be 
quite as well to propagate the bushes, by the 
mode recommended on page 29th. 



HMv 



M« 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE PLUM, 

Choice of a Tree. A good pi am tree is 
straight, well formed and entirely free from 
black excrescences on the trunk and limbs. 
It should be grafted upon a finely-rooted /ree- 
growing plum stock. Plum as well as other 
trees, of which the graft appears to be over- 
growing the stock, should always be avoided ; 
for such growing trees rarely fail of disap- 
pointing the wishes of those who cultivate 
them. 

Standards and Dwarfs. The plum is 
dwarfed by grafting it upon the Mirabelle 
plum stock, but dwarf-plums are not worthy 
of cultivation except as curiosities. Standards 
are worked upon strong free growing English 
plum stocks, and never very advantageously 
on the peach or the wild plum, or on any other 
stock. 

Soil. Downing recommends "heavy loams 



228 

with considerable mixture of clay." The 
plum does not do so well, in dry soils, as other 
fruit-trees. 

Distance. A plum orchard may be set 
with the trees ten to fifteen feet apart. 

T^raiisplanting* The plum is a tree very 
easily transplanted. (9ee the Chapter on 
Tj'ansplanting^ Part 1. 

Priming. The directions are the same as 
those for the apple. Unthrifty plum trees are 
sometimes benefited by an occasional appli- 
cation of the shortcning-in system, recom- 
mended for the peach, and also for the dwarf- 
pear. 

Insects, Diseases, Remedies. These are 
the Curculio or plum-weevil, and the Black 
Excrescence. The Curculio is the worm 
found in the fruit. It is of a dark brown col- 
or, and about a quarter of an inch long. The 
insect at the season of laying its eggs, may be 
frightened away, by frequently shaking it off, 
or even by persons often passing close by the 
tree. It may be caught by shaking the tree, 
having sheets spread on the ground under- 
neath. Both of these methods have been fre- 
quently practised with great success. Letting 
swine among the trees to devour the wormy 



229 

fruit as it drops, will in a year or two destroy 
the whole race of this insect. Paving the 
ground all around the tree, has answered the 
same purpose. About one quart of salt should 
be spread around and under every plum tree 
in the autumn, to keep it in good health. 

Black Excrescence. The only remedy yet 
known for this excrescence is a severe one, 
namely, to persevere in cutting it oflf and 
burning it, whenever and wherever it appears. 
And it is true as the Book of Proverbs, — - 
whoso spareth the knife in this work, hateth 
his plum tree. 

Uses of the Fiuit. These are similar to 
those of the cherry. 

The Preliminary Remarks to Part II. will 
be generally applicable to the Plum, although 
its season is comparatively a short one. 



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231 

Additional varieties may be selected from 
among the following: — Columbia, Duane's 
Purple, Yellow Egg (/or cooking,) Prince's 
Yellow Gage, Blue Imperatrice, {for preser- 
ving;) Huling's Superb, Purple Favorite, &c. 

Select List. Bleecker's Gage, Washing- 
ton, Prince's Imperial Gage, Green Gage, Jef- 
ferson, Coe's Golden Drop. 

Smaller List of three varieties. We find 
it quite difficult to make the selection ; but 
with some considerable hesitation, we ven- 
ture to recommend the Washington, Green 
Gage, and Jefferson. The (old) Green Gage, 
though quite a slow growing tree, is the best 
flavored of all plums. 

A tree of this is worth as much as any other 
single tree, of which the reputation is well es- 
tablished here. For a single tree, in his lo- 
cality, Downing prefers the Jefferson. 






CHAPTER VII. 



THE GRAPE. 

ISoil. The Grape requires a deep, rich, fer- 
tile soil, with a drainage or dry sub-soil. It 
is not lost labor to make the soil two or two 
and a half feet deep, placing underneath a 
drainage of cobble-stones or— ^what is very 
much better— of old broken bones. Mix with 
the soil the general manure — see p. 98--— and 
add a small quantity of lime, ashes, and plas- 
ter of Paris,— also bone dust, if you have it. 

Cultivation.-^The grape is raised easily from 
layers, and sometimes from cuttings. It may 
also be grafted on common wild vines, (see 
Grafting.) In Europe, the grape is extensive- 
ly cultivated for making wine. Some idea of 
the extent of this cultivation may be formed 
from the estimate, that 500,000,000 imperial 
gallons of this wine have been made in France 
in a single year. 



233 

In vineyards, vines may be planted about 7 
eight feet apart each way, and trained each 
one to a strong stake, something after the 
manner of cultivating hops. For training 
the grape upon a trellis, see page 85 th. 

Pruning and Training. — Never, if avoid- 
able, touch the knife to a grape-vine (for 
heavy pruning,) except in late autumn, or in 
the winter ; for its appearance and health are 
injured by the bleeding which results from 
spring pruning. When your vine is formed, 
according to the plan described in Chap. VI. 
of Part I., cut down all the shoots at the time 
above-mentioned to within two or three buds 
of the old or last year's wood ; — Downing 
says cut the shoots down to within an inch of 
the shoot from which they sprung. 

This Shortening-in^ ^c, (somewhat similar 
that of the peach,) is about all the pruning 
that our native out-door grapes require, and 
they often succeed admirably without any 
training or pruning at all. Downing, however, 
recommends very severe pruning; he consid- 
ers a space eight feet square to be . as much 
surface as a native grape vine ought to be 
allowed to cover. 

Grafting the Grape, This has been done 



234 

with good success, "by thte "common mode of 
cleft- grafting. The operation ought to be '-' 
delayed until the vine is in full leaf, the scions 
having been kept dormant in a cool cellar un- '^ 
til used. (See page 43.) * 

Keeping the Grape. Take the ripe clus- 
ters when free from external moisture, and 
pack them in jars, filling all the interstices " 
with baked saw-dust. The grapes which are 
exported from France and Spain, are packed 
in this way. Alternate layers of grapes and 
. kiln-dried bran would probably answer equal- 
ly well. 

Grapes have also been successfully kept for 
several months, by putting them in common 
flower-pots, and filling in, under, around and 
cCbove them with common fine sand, a drain- 
age of broken earthen or the like having first 
been placed in the bottom of the pot. The 
sand must be kept moist, and at a temperature 
a little above freezing. 

These modes of preserving the grape are 
well worthy of trial ; for, though not highly 
prized in its season, the fruit might be quite a 
luxury at mid-winter. ^ 

Uses of the Grape. Our hardy native 
grapes are not very much esteemed for the 



235 

dessert. Good house-keepers make some use 
of them in the kitchen. We hope, however, 
that new hybrid seedlings will yet be raised, 
which shall be far more valuable than any 
now cultivated. 

Varieties — The Isabella succeeds Avell, in 
warm situations, in Worcester county ; but 
the best three grapes that we know to be pe?'- 
fectly hardy with us, are, first and most 
valuable, the Blackstone ; second, the Fitch- 
burg (both natives of this county ;) third, 
tlie Carter (which originated near Lowell.) 
In situations too cold for the Isabella, there is 
no better grape to cultivate than the Black- 
stone. 

The Cataivba^ and the White Sweetwater 
(or Ohasselasy are delicious grapes. They 
may be successfully cultivated, in the interior 
of New England, by pruning them heavily, 
in November, and laying them down, under 
a covering of three or four inches of loam and 
straw intermixed. Or they may be covered 
with a foot or more of soil, which should be 
carefully removed, early in the spring. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE APRICOT. 

? 

The Apricot would be a very desirable tree 
to cultivate, were it not for the difficulties in 
the way of obtaining even a small crop of its 
fruit. 

The apricot is best, worked on the plum- 
stock ; although it grows well also on the 
peach. The tree is of small growth, and is 
even less hardy than some varieties of the 
peach. It requires a deep, dry soil, and a ) 
somewhat sheltered situation. 

The apricot needs the same cultivation and 
shortening-in pruning, which we have recom- 
mended for the peach. 

InsectSj (^c. The insect {Peach-worm) 
which sometimes does so much mischief 
among peach trees, also works upon the apri- 
cot. But the greatest obstacle in the way of 
obtaining a good crop of the fruit, is the Cur- 
culio. It has been remarked that strong 



237 

offensive odors were often efficacious, in pre- 
venting the approach of insects. Thus we 
have heard of an apricot's being protected 
from the curculio, by winding a small rope 
strongly impregnated with tar, around and up 
through the trunk and branches of the tree. 
Downing recommends rags dipped in coal- 
tar to be hung in the tree, for this purpose. 
See the Chapter on The Plum. 

Varieties Downing recommends for a 
small garden, the Large Early, Breda, Peach, 
and Moorpark. 

The hardiest varieties worthy of cultiva- 
tion are the Red Masculine, Roman, and 
Breda. For a single tree the Roman or the 
Red Masculine is as good as any. 



o 



<HBr» 



CHAPTER VIII. 

NUTS. 

These fruits are certainly deserving of notice. 
Among those which are perfectly hardy in 
our climate we enumerate the Shell bark, Oil- 
nut or Butternut, Chestnut, Black Walnut, 
Beach nut, Hazle nut, and — what is not gen- 
erally known — the Filbert. It is said that all 
these nuts may be propagated by the ordinary 
modes of grafting ; and, doubtless, they are 
in this way susceptible of as much improve- 
ment in size, flavor, &c., &c., as has been 
effected with the apple, and other cultivated 
fruits. 

The European Wahiut. This is better 
known by the name of the Madeira nut. 
The tree is of a fine lofty form, resembling 
that of the common Butternut or Oilnut. It 
is perfectly hardy, on Long Island and to the 
south of New York. And, as far north as 
the city of Charlestown in this state, there 



239 

may be seen, in the enclosure of a residence 
on Harvard street, two fine trees of this kind, 
either of them much taller and larger than 
the largest sized of our apple-trees. We have 
eaten nuts from these trees, well-ripened and 
fully equal to any of those which are import- 
ed. The trees often bear a crop of some 
bushels of the fruit. Downing says this tree 
•" may, with due care, be grafted on the com- 
mon hickory nut."*= 

The Filbert. This is only an improved 
variety of the common wild hazel nut of Eu- 
rope. It is not very generally known, that 
this fine nut may be easily grown, in open 
culture, in a suitable soil, here in the eastern 
states. 

We saw fine samples of the filbert, which 
were grown in Boston, and exhibited at the 
last Annual Exhibition of the Mass. Horti- 
cultural Society. From an Article, on the 
457th page of the second volume of Down- 
ing's Horticulturist, we learn '' that a filbert 
tree (or rather bush,) may be rendered produc- 
tive, in almost as small a space as is occupied 
by an ordinary gooseberry or currant bush. 
In fact — says the writer — under favorable 



* Hafl it been done ? 



240 

circumstances, the produce of these neat 
bushes is astonishing." It is said that, from 
a single forest near Recus, in Spain, sixty 
thousand bushels of this nut have been gath- 
ered in a single year. A loamy soil, with a 
dry subsoil, suits the plant well. The bushes 
may be raised best from suckers or layers, or 
they may be easily grafted on the common 
hazel nut. They may be suiFered to grow 
either in the tree or the hush form, probably 
the latter is the best. They require the same 
annual pruning and thinning that is given to 
the gooseberry. "A few plants of them," 
says Downing — '' should have a place in all 
our gardens." Phillips and Loudon both 
represent this nut as well deserving of culti- 
vation on account of the profitable return 
which it makes for the labor bestowed upon 
it. The former states that the crop of a sin- 
gle acre of filberts has been sold for fifty 
pounds (upwards of $200.) 



c**- 



CHAPTER IX 



BERRY-FRUITS. 



SECTION I. 



THE STRAWBERRY. 



The Strawberry is a perennial plant, a 
native both of the old and th*^ new world. It 
is considered by many the most delicious and 
wholesome of all berries. 

I. CULTIVATION, ETC. 

Soil. The best soil for the plants is a deep 
rich loam. Two feet of this soil will give 
finer plants and larger crops of the fruit than 
a*depth of only one foot would produce. 

Specific Manures, — Slight intermixtures 
with the soil, of super-phosphate of hme, 
sulphate of ammonia, guano, bone-dust, 



242 

soot, nitrate of soda, &c., are recommended 
by English writers : but we hardly need them 
in rich soils here. 

Propagation. The varieties of the straw- 
berry, excepting the Bush Alpine, * easily 
and rapidly propagate themselves by their 
runiiers. They thus form a great number of 
7iew plants every season. 

Transplanting. The strawberry may be 
transplanted (that is the new plants of it,) in 
August and September ; but in our climate it 
is perhaps better to do this work in the spring. 
Downing advises to select the new plants 
from the runners of those old plants which 
were the most productive the previous sum- 
mer. Other plants, however, answer very 
well. 

Setting in Roios. — For market cultivation 
of the strawberry on a large scale, having 
prepared — trenched or subsoiled and manur- 
ed, — the ground, let the new plants (so called) 
be set out in rows three or three and a half feet 
apart, and at any distance from each other in 
the row, from two or three inches to as many 
feet, according to the supply of the plants. 

* This variety is increased by dividing the roots. It may alao 
be reproduced by sowing the seed as soon as it is ripe. 



243 

The cultivation of the ground between the 
rows, the first season, may be chiefly per- 
formed with a horse and cuhivator. Keep 
the plants well hoed and clean of weeds, re- 
membering always that the oftener they are 
cultivated and wed, the less the labor will cost ; 
for if the beds get once choked with weeds 
and grass, it will be found a sorry job to clean 
them Train the runners the first season 
lenghthwise of the rows. In the autumn of 
each year, it is an excellent plan to apply a 
little top-dressing of compost-manure, leaves 
or old rotted straw to the beds, in quantities 
nearly sufficient to hide the plants. The next 
season, the vines will spread so that it will 
hardly be practicable to go among them with 
the horse and cultivator. The plants, this 
and the next year, must be wed chiefly by 
hand. The vines will bear quite a moderate 
crop the first season, and their best crops du- 
ring the second and third summers from their 
planting out. On the third or, at farthest, on 
the fourth spring after setting them, dig up all 
the old plants and throw them away: for 
their fruit-bearing days are over. If it is not 
a particular object to increase the number of 
plants, the number and size of the berries may 



244 



be increased, by cutting off the runners two 
or three times, during the second and third 
summers after they were planted out.=^ As 
soon as the blossoms have set their fruit, it is 
an excellent plan to carefully weed the plants 
and then cover the whole ground, under and 
aroimd the vines, with a good quantity of old 
straw. This is beneficial to the growth of 
the plants, as a mulchings and protects the 
ripening fruit from the dirt. The vines thus 
treated need no further hoeing or weeding, un- 
til they have done fruiting. 

An English writer recommends a fine sub- 
stitute for this common practice. Have cheap 
tiles made, say twelve inches long and six 
inches wide, with a semi-circular notch in one 
side of each, so that when two are laid to- 
gether there will be formed a round hole 
between them of about four inches diameter. 

Place these, instead of the straw, around 
every bearing plant, so as to cover the whole 
ground. The weeds cannot grow under 
them, and they will keep the berries clean and 
hasten their maturity, 
t The cost of these tiles would be but trifling 

* This is, in fact, a kind of shorttning-xn^ similar to that prac- 
ticed upon the peach, grape, &c. 



245 

and we think they would answer a gooa piii- 
pose here. 

*' To accelerate the ripejiing of strawber- 
ries," says Downing," it is only necessary to 
plant the rows or beds on the south side of a 
wall or tight fence. A still simpler mode is 
to. throw up a ridge of earth three feet high, 
running east and west, and to plant it in rows 
on the south side." Ten days or more may 
be gained in this way ; and if later fruit is de- 
sired, rows planted on the north side would 
probably have their fruiting retarded nearly 
as much. * 

Cultivatio7i in Alternate Strips. — This is an 
easy mode of renewing the plants, considera- 
bly practiced near Boston. On the third sum- 
mer from planting, suffer the runners to grow 
and root into the spaces between the rows. — 
(See above, Setting in Rows ;) — then, in the 
fall or spring, dig up the old plants and your 
new rows are already formed in what were 
last year the spaces between the rows. At 
the end of three years, repeat the process and 
so on, not forgetting to spade in a generous 
quantity of compost manure whenever you 
dig up the old rows. 

The Bush Alpine. Strawberries, having 



246 



no runners, are the prettiest to cultivate in 
hilis or in borders ; and they produce consid- 
erable fruit, even until the setting-in of the 
frosts of autumn. 

Some cultivators allow their vines to cover 
the whole ground ; others quite as successful- 
ly keep them very neatly in hills. The esseti- 
Hal requisites are — 

1. Selection of proper varieties; 

2. A deep rich soil ; 

3. Seasonable destruction of weeds ; 

4. A renewal of the plants once in three or 
four years. V 

IL CHARACTER OF STRAWBERRY BLOSSOMS. 

There is another very important feature, in 
the management of the strawberry, which 
ought not to be passed over. Strawberry 
plants of different varieties— (some think even 
of the same variety.) — produce three kinds of 
blossoms, the staminate or male, the jnstillate 
or female, the hermojyhrodite or perfect 
blossoms. 

The Cincinnati cultivators have practically 
proved, that the former two varieties produce 
their largest crops when growing in proximity 
to each other. Thus, in making a plantation 



247 

of the strawberry, they set every fourth or 
fifth row with siaminate, and the intermediate 
rows with a pistillate variety, one plant of the 
former being sufficient to fertilize five or ten 
pistillate plants. 

The success which has practically attended 
this mode of culture, justifies us in strongly 
recommending it to all who raise the straw- 
berry either upon a small or a large scale. 
We should prefer this mode to that recom- 
mended by Downing, which is to select the 
new plants, for forming a bed, from the run- 
ners of those older plants which have distin- 
guished themselves by their productiveness. 

Of nearly a hundred varieties described in 
the catalogues of nurserymen, we shall here 
recommend only a very i^QW. 

Those who wish to cultivate the strawberry, 
not for fancy, but for the size, beauty, excel- 
lence and productiveness of its fruit, cannot 
do better, in our climate, than to plant out 
first a row of the Large Early Scarlet (a 
stamihate * variety,) then four or five rows of 
the Hovey's Seedling (a pistillate variety,) 
in the manner above described under Setting 
in Roios. and Character of Strawberry Blos- 
soms. 



" Sometimes, perfect" — ^Downing. 



248 

Other fine staminate varieties for our cli- 
mate are, the Old Scarlet (or Early Virginia 
Scarlet,) and the Hautbois. Another capital 
large fruited pistillate variety is the Black 
Prince. The Hudson's Bay is a fine, hardy, 
rather late variety. 

For perfect-blossomed plants there are 
none better than the i?e</-fruited and White 
fruited Alpines. These continue in bearing 
from June till November. A large autumn 
crop may be secured, by cutting off the blos- 
soms in the spring. 

The Red Wood and the White Wood are 
also hardy perfect-blossomed varieties, ripen- 
ing their fruits in July ; they are well worthy 
of cultivation. 

The perfect-blossomed varieties, of course, 
need no intermingling of other plants to ren- 
der them fruitful. 

Grathering the Fruit. Gather the fruit 
when it is not moist with dew or rain. It may 
be kept for a little while, by placing it in a 
cool dry room or in an ice-box. 

Uses of the Fruit, (^^c. The strawberry 
is a dessert fruit of the first rank. It is some- 
times used also for preserving. Boerhave 
considered it a valuable remedy in cases of 



249 

putrid fever. Hoffman asserts that he has 
known consumptive people cured by the use 
of this fruit. 

Eaten plentifully the strawberry • averts 
rheumatic complaints. It also dissolves the 
tartarous incrustations on the teeth. We are 
very sorry that we feel obliged, also, to tell our 
cold-water friends, that an agreeable dessert 
wine may be made from this exquisite fruit. 

Downing eulogises the strawberry as " the 
most delicious and wholesome of all berries,'" 
and after quoting from a northern bard, 

" A dish of ripe strawberries, smothered in cream," 

which he calls a perfect pastoral idyl in 
itself, he boldly doubts the existence of any 
individual who does not relish the fruit. 

The cultivation of the strawberry for mar- 
ket is not an unprofitable business. Six thou- 
sand bushels of the fruit are annually sold in 
the city of Cincinnati. Some of the West 
Cambridge gardeners have sold in Boston, 
during a single season, from $700 to $1000 
worth of strawberries from less than an acre of 
land! 

Size of the Fruit. — The Hovey's Seedling 
attains, on an average, the size of three to 



250 

three and a half inches in circumference. 
Specimens have been raised, by high cultiva- 
tion and thinning the fruit, as large as five or 
even six inches in circumference. 

The largest Strawberry of which the writer 
has any information, — {See Farmer'' s lAbrary, 
pagelSio, Oct. No. of 1845.) — was raised in 
1845 at Doddington Hall in England. The 
specimen was of the British Queen variety. 
It was 7iine inches in circumjerence laterally, 
and six inches in circumference through the 
stem and point, — being about the size of a fair 
specimen of the Baldwin apple. This is a 
most striking exemplification of what nature 
can do, when assisted by the cunning inge- 
nuity of human skill; for, doubtless, that 
which wins our admiration, in the Brit- 
ish Queen^ — meaning, of course, the straw- 
berry, — is the result, chiefly of cultivation 
and assiduous training for successive years ; — 
just what might have been efiected with any 
other of that little ignoble, uncultivated tribe, 
so quaintly described by Gerarde.^ 



* " Strawberries do grow upon hills and valleies. likewise in 
woods and other such places that bee something shadowie." 

Herball, p. 486. 



SECTION II. 



THE CURRANT. 



The Currant will grow in any soil that will 
produce corn or potatoes. It is more easily 
cultivated than any other fruit." The best 
mode of propagating the currant, is by plant- 
ing out cuttings of it, in the fall, or quite ear- 
ly in the spring. {See Chap. 2d, of Pari I.) 
It is well to procure the cuttings in the 
fall and keep them like scions until spring. 

Tree and Bush Currant. By taking out 
all the eyes of a cutting except the three or 
four upper ones, currants can easily be kept in 
the form of little trees. By leaving all the buds 
on the cutting, or by propagating by dividing 
the roots, the plants will assume quite a busliy 
habit. Downing prefers the tree mode of 
culture; but we very much prefer the bush 
mode. We have never seen tree-formed cur- 
rants so healthy and vigorous as those grow- 



2^2 

iiig ill the old fashioned way, although we ad- 
mit that, while they live, they yield very 
large fruit and appear very pretty. It is an 
excellent plan to renew currant bushes, once 
in six or eight years. 

When you desire extra sized fruit, pinch oft' 
the ends of the growing shoots about the 20th 
of June, and thin out the clusters just as you 
would to produce the same result with the 
grape. No farther treatment is necessary, ex- 
cept to keep the ground around the bushes 
well cultivated and free from weeds, and to 
prune out the superfluous wood every winter. 

The best varieties of a reputation well es- 
tablished here, are the large Red Dutch and 
the large White Dutch. Other fine, large va- 
rieties, highly recommended by those who 
have cultivated them, are Knight's Early Red, 
Knight's large Red, and the Victoria (a very 
large, fine currant.) These are nearly twice 
the size of the common red and white currants 
and are in every respect superior to them. 

Of Black Currants^ the Black Grape is one 
of the best. People who have acquired a 
fondness for this species of the currant, often 
place a high value upon it. 

Uses of the Currant, The currant, stewed 



2^Q 



06 



while yet green j is an excellent article for 
tarts, sauces, pies, &/C. As a dessert, the white 
varieties being less acid are preferred by most 
people. The white and red kinds are very 
pretty, when mixed together upon a glass dish 
or salver. Wine is also made from the cur- 
rant ; and frequently this is a no contemptible 
beverage. Fine jellies are made both of the 
red and the white varieties. When white 
currants are to be made into jellies, use the 
whitest sugar that can be obtained. 



16 



SECTION III. 

THE GOOSEBERRY. 

The Gooseberry requires a c^ee/^, strong 
rich soil. It is propagated precisely in the 
same way as the currant. The ^/*ee-gooseber- 
ry succeeds better than the tree currant, and 
nearly as well as the bush form of the plant. 
The plants should also be renewed, as direct- 
ed for the currant. The uses of the gooseber- 
ry are the same as of that fruit. 

Pruning. One half of the top of a goose- 
berry bush, should be thinned out at the Avin- 
ter pruning, so as to admit light and air 
through the head of the plant. When the ber- 
ries are fairly set, thin them out, taking away 
one half or more of them, for the benefit of 
the rest. 

Mildew. The best preventive and remedy 
for this, is to keep the plants well manured 
and pruned every year. 

The following varieties are recommended 
by Downing and others : Red — Keen's Seed- 
ling, Crown Bob, &c. ; White — Early White, 
White Honey, &c. ; Yellow — Yellow Ball, 
&c. ; Green — Green Walnut, Pitmaston, 
Green Gage, cfcc. 



<*• 



SECTION IV. 



THE RASPBERRY. 



The Raspberry is indigenous both in Eu- 
rope and America. 

Soil. Downing recommends " a deep rich 
)oam, rather moist than dry." Kenrick says 
"a moist rich soil." Thomas recommends 
the same, with " an admixture of swamp 
muck." 

Cultivation. The raspberry is universal- 
ly propagated by suckers or offsets from the 
main roots. A few varieties are raised by 
means of layers. They need the same cul- 
tivation as the currant. 

Pruning. All dead wood and the smaller 
stems should be cut away, in the spring, even 
Avith the ground. Four «r five shoots should 
be left, and tied to a stake, the tops having 
about one foot of their upper extremities 
headed off. Set the plants in rows, three or 



256 



four feet apart each way. The raspberry 
plant is in perfection, when it is three years 
old. When it is about six years old, it should 
be dug up and a new plantation made, on a 
piece of ground where the plant has not re- 
cently grown before. It is an excellent mode 
to make a small plantation every year, so as 
to continue a supply of the fruit. In extreme 
cold latitudes, it is necessary to bend the 
plants down and cover them with earth or 
straw through the winter. 

Vai'ieties. White Antwerp, Red Antwerp, 
Fastolff, and Franeonia are the best for New 
England ; the latter is the hardiest. 

Uses. The fruit has the same uses as the 
currant. 

Plantations of the Raspberry for the supply 
of the market, have been made almost as 
profitable as those of the strawberry. This 
fruit like the strawberry, is also* wonderful!}'- 
susceptible of improvement by cultivation. 



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